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A HISTORY 

OF THE 

NEW THOUGHT 
MOVEMENT 



BY 

HORATIO W. DRESSER 

Author of "The Power of Silence," "Handbook 

of the New Thought," "The Spirit 

of the New Thought." etc\ 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 









Copyright, 1919. by 
THOMAS Y CROWELL COMPANY 



SEP 10 |yiy 



©CLA-5'3 783 



PREFACE 

For several years there has been a demand for 
a history of the liberal wing of the mental-healing 
movement known as the "New Thought." This 
demand is partly due to the fact that the move- 
ment is now well organized, with international 
headquarters in Washington, D. C, hence there 
is a desire to bring its leading principles together 
and see them in their unity ; and in part to inter- 
est in the pioneers out of whose practice the 
present methods and teachings have grown. 
The latter interest is particularly promising since 
the pioneers still have a message for us. Then, 
too, we are more interested in these days in trac- 
ing the connection between the ideas which con- 
cern us most and the new age out of which they 
have sprung. We realize more and more clearly 
that this is indeed a new age. Hence wq are in- 
creasingly eager to interpret the tendencies of 
thought which express the age at its best. 

In order to meet this desire for a history of 
the New Thought, Mr. James A. Edgerton, 
president of the International New Thought 
Alliance, decided in 1916 to undertake the work. 



iv Preface 



For it seemed well that some one should write 
it who has not been identified with any particular 
phase of the movement, either as teacher or healer. 
As Mr. Edgerton was not directly acquainted 
with the early history and the mental-healing 
pioneers, he asked me to write the chapters about 
Mr. Quimby and his followers. This I agreed 
to do. But then came interruptions due to the 
war, and the work was not begun. It has since 
seemed advisable that I should undertake the 
work as a whole, making use of such material as 
Mr. Edgerton had gathered. I have responded 
in the spirit in which the work was originally 
planned. This History is in fact the kind of 
book I had in mind in preparing and editing the 
companion volume, The Spirit of the New 
Thought, New York, 1917, in which were pub- 
lished various representative essays by different 
writers, with historical notes and a bibliography 
indicating the successive periods of the move- 
ment. The introduction to the latter volume 
defines the term "New Thought," and traces its 
use since it was adopted in 1895 as the name of 
the liberal wing of the therapeutic movement. 
The essays give expression to divergent opinions 
concerning the movement, while also indicating 
the development of the cardinal principles. In 
the present volume I have taken the definition 
for granted, and have assumed that the reader 



Preface v 

is interested to turn directly to the early history. 

This History might disappoint some readers, 
if they had made up their minds that it is neces- 
sary to look into the far past and discover ideas 
in India, in ancient Greece, in the Middle Ages, 
which resemble the therapeutic ideas of today. 
But this venture has been tried by several writers 
in recent years and has led to merely general 
results. This interest in the past could be de- 
veloped endlessly. The objection would be that 
there is no actual historical connection, no ex- 
planation of the modern movement. 

Still others have undertaken to explain the 
New Thought by interpreting it as an expression 
of the liberalism of the nineteenth century from 
a point of view so general that all the distinctive 
characteristics of the movement have been lost 
in the effort to claim too much for it. The 
tendency is to attribute to the New Thought far 
more than can with historical accuracy be claimed 
for it. The New Thought as matter of fact is 
only one of many liberalizing tendencies. It 
may be regarded by itself, just as in other con- 
nections one might follow the history of Unita- 
rianism, the philosophy of evolution, or the rise 
of spiritism. All these studies would be inter- 
esting and valuable in their proper place. Only 
in recent years has the New Thought become 
distinctively a liberalizing movement, with 



vi Preface 

churches and other organizations devoted to this 
work. The mental healing movement was 
purely special at first. It had to be to attract 
attention to principles and methods which needed 
to be recognized. The movement grew up with 
little connection with any other of the special 
movements of the age. 

With no desire to attribute to the mental- 
healing movement any results which do not be- 
long to it, I am also without desire to place more 
emphasis on the work of the pioneers than that 
work deserves in the light of its fruits. But 
there is certainly no reason to ignore the work of 
those who patiently and faithfully labored for 
the good of humanity. The history here nar- 
rated may be followed without indulging in con- 
troversies. The early history especially is based 
on a study of the manuscripts, books, and prac- 
tice with the sick of the leading therapeutists. 
I have enjoyed the perspnal acquaintance of 
those who aided Mr. Quimby in the more impor- 
tant years of his work in Portland, Maine. I 
was also acquainted with Rev. W. F. Evans, 
the first writer on the subject, and have known 
most of the leaders of the movement save the 
newer teachers and healers. The main facts on 
which a controversy concerning the origin of the 
movement might be founded were long ago pub- 
lished in The True History of Mental Science, 



Preface vii 

by Julius A. Dresser, Boston, 1887, and no one 
has ever been able to dispute the authenticity of 
these facts. Selections from Mr. Quimby's man- 
uscripts were incorporated in The Philosophy 
of P. P. Quimby, by Annetta G. Dresser, Bos- 
ton, 1895. Therefore, people have had oppor- 
tunity to judge for themselves concerning the 
type of thought and the value of the teachings 
for which Mr. Quimby stood. I have since 
gathered the more permanent portions of these 
two books and added other matters of historical 
interest in Health anct\ the Inner Life, New 
York, 1906. Accordingly, I have assumed in 
the present volume that the reader takes the 
"true history" for granted and is ready to turn 
to larger things. 

The devotee of a special interpretation of the 
New Thought might still maintain that the his- 
torian is of a certain persuasion and that there- 
fore the personal equation should be taken into 
account. This is true, for every writer has a 
point of view. I must admit that, after an ac- 
quaintance with the movement which dates from 
the years when it was known as "mental science," 
"mind-cure," and the "Boston craze," the teach- 
ings of the early leaders still seem more profitable. 
But why should a history ever be written unless 
we hold that there are ideas of value not yet rec- 
ognized in their true worth by the world ? If there 



Vlll 



Preface 



are truths for the new age that surpass some of 
the later claims put forward in behalf of the New 
Thought, let us by all means try to grasp and 
apply these truths. This is all the more impor- 
tant now that mental healing is well known, now 
that everybody makes some use of suggestion, 
and is familiar with the psychological principles 
underlying the movement. What remains to be 
done is to pass beyond the more popular ideas 
and estimate the spiritual principles, see in what 
sense the New Thought is in very truth an ex- 
pression of the new age. Therefore the point of 
view of this History is that true history is anal- 
ysis. It shows us what principles are most im- 
portant in the light of the tendencies from which 
they came; it is spiritual interpretation. Those 
who hold this point of view have no desire to at- 
tribute power to men which belongs to God. 
They take no interest in claims for priority or 
for special teachings said to be beyond debate 
as if they came by revelation. What we care 
for is the truth which finds expression in God's 
own time, when it is needed. If we find that 
this truth became known without much connec- 
tion with similar teachings long ago recognized 
in the world, there is no reason why we should 
not say so. Nothing is gained for a cause by 
claiming too much for it. The test after all is 
not history but actual life, utility today. My 



Preface ix 



part is that of the appreciative historian, not that 
of the ardent advocate or the devotee of a special 
cause or organization. Consequently, I have 
not brought forward any views of my own. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The New Age 1 

II Quimby the Pioneer 19 

III Quimby's Method of Healing .... 44 

IV The First Author 71 

V The Beginnings of Christian Science . . 97 

VI The Mental Science Period 126 

VII The New Thought .152 

VIII The First Organizations 174 

IX The First Conventions . . . . . .192 

X The International New Thought Alliance 208 

XI Other Organizations 231 

XII The Movement in Foreign Lands . . . 258 

XIII Looking Forward 276 

XIV Kindred Movements 294 

Appendix 381 

Index 341 



THE NEW 
THOUGHT MOVEMENT 



THE NEW AGE 

The great war came as a vivid reminder that 
we live in a new age. We began to look back 
not only to explain the war and find a way to 
bring it to an end, but to see what tendencies 
were in process to lead us far beyond it. There 
were new issues to be met and we needed the new 
enlightenment to meet them. The war was only 
one of various signs of a new dispensation. It 
came not so much to prepare the way as to call 
attention to truths which we already possessed. 
The new age had been in process for some time. 
Different ones of us were trying to show in what 
way it was a new dispensation, what principles 
were most needed. What the war accomplished 
for us was to give us a new contrast. As a re- 
sult we now see clearly that some of the tendencies 
of the nineteenth century which were most 
warmly praised are not so promising as we sup- 
posed. 



2 The New Thought Movement 

We had come to regard the nineteenth century 
as the age of the special sciences. We looked to 
science for enlightenment. We enjoyed new in- 
ventions without number, such as the steam-en- 
gine, the electric telegraph, the telephone, and 
our life centered more and more about these. 
But the nation having most to do with prepara- 
tion for the war was the one which made the 
greatest use of the special sciences. Modern 
science was in fact materialized for the benefit of 
a military party. As a result of our study of the 
war many of us are now more interested in higher 
branches of knowledge than in the special 
sciences. We insist that science is for use, and 
we reserve the right to say what that use shall 
be. We have lost interest in science not ex- 
plicitly employed for moral ends. 

Again, we called attention to the nineteenth 
century with great pride as the age of the phi- 
losophy of evolution. We put our hopes in that 
philosophy. We expected it to explain the great 
mysteries. We wrote history anew, we issued 
new text-books, and in a thousand ways adapted 
our thought to the great idea of gradual develop- 
ment. But while the new philosophy accom- 
plished wonders for us in so far as it showed the 
reign of law, the uniformity of nature, the im- 
manence of all causality, it deprived us of our 
former belief in the divine purpose. Taken lit- 



The New Age 3 



erally, it led us to regard nature as self -opera- 
tive. We had to work our way back to the di- 
vine providence. We realized that evolutionism 
was simply a new form of materialism. We car- 
ried forward from the nineteenth century into the 
twentieth many great problems of life and mind 
not yet solved. The philosophy of evolution has 
come to stay, but not even in the form of Berg- 
son's interpretation is it satisfactory. 

We also looked upon the nineteenth century 
as the period of development of idealism. The 
modern movement, beginning in Germany, 
spread to England and the United States, and we 
witnessed a most interesting form of it in our 
transcendentalism. This movement, in brief, 
emphasized Thought as the cardinal principle. 
It sought to explain all things by reference to 
this Thought. It found the starting-point as 
well as the meaning in the Idea. The outward 
world was regarded as a mere phenomenon in 
comparison. This movement had permanent 
contributions to make to our thought. We as- 
sociate the name of Emerson with its spiritual 
meanings. But most of its theoretical teachings 
seem far removed from our practical thought to- 
day. We no longer try to spin the world out 
of the mere web of Thought. We need a new 
idealism to replace that of Fichte and Hegel. 
We are suspicious of mere speculation. The 



4 The New Thought Movement 

idealism of the last century is already mere mat- 
ter of history. 

The nineteenth century was also the epoch of 
religious liberalism. Throughout the century 
Unitarianism accomplished a great work. The 
liberalizing tendencies spread into all denomina- 
tions. We take many ideas as matters of course 
nowadays for which the great leaders of the time 
of Theodore Parker and James Martineau had 
to contend at the risk of intellectual martyrdom. 
The liberalism of the early part of the century 
had a destructive work to do before the freer 
thought of the day could assimilate the teach- 
ings of modern science and give us our present 
constructive faith. It requires decided effort on 
our part today to put ourselves back to the time 
when narrowing dogmas still ruled the human 
mind, when it was customary to pray for divine 
intervention, to believe in miracles as infrac- 
tions of law, and to draw lines of rigid exclusive- 
ness around the ecclesiastical sect to which one 
happened to belong. The history of liberalism 
is so comprehensive that it is always a question 
nowadays what we mean when we use the term. 
To be liberal is to be of the new age. The real 
question is, what is the goal of liberalism? The 
answer which a disciple of the New Thought 
would give should be understood in the light of 
a long struggle for the right to employ mental 



The New Age 



healing, a struggle which went on almost apart, 
independently of the warfare waged by Unita- 
rianism upon the old doctrines and dogmas. 

As in the case of the philosophy of evolution, 
we have had religious liberalism long enough 
with us to realize that it has a sting to it. For 
the less enlightened, the smaller minds among 
liberals, freedom of religious thought developed 
according to the tenets of the new or higher crit- 
icism imported from Germany. Undertaking 
to explain how the Bible came into being, with 
the variations and errors of texts, the imperfec- 
tions of language, the conflict of opinions due to 
the fact that the books of which the Bible con- 
sists were brought together by other hands long 
after the supposed writers flourished, the critics 
proved too much and exemplified a habit of judg- 
ing by the letter. Biblical criticism became de- 
structive and had much to do with the weaken- 
ing of faith still apparent among us. If we say 
that the new age is the epoch of belief in the 
spiritual meaning of the Scriptures, we must 
qualify it by saying that the greater work re- 
mains to be done. Devotees of the New 
Thought have freely interpreted the Bible for 
themselves. What is needed is a spiritual 
science of interpretation to offset the destruc- 
tive work which the age accepted without know- 
ing what it believed. 



6 The New Thought Movement 

The great century that has passed also wit- 
nessed the coming of spiritism in its modern 
form. In retrospect we are now able to say that 
behind all that was misleading in the new move- 
ment there were certain great truths which the 
world needed. Old ideas of death have been 
overcome, the spiritual world has been brought 
nearer, and larger views of the human spirit 
have been generally accepted. Out of the new 
interest came psychical research as an endeavor 
to put the phenomena of the whole field of spirit- 
ism on a scientific basis. The results have been 
meagre and slowly attained. But the movement 
has been educational. Its positive results are 
discoverable in what we have been led to think. 
Although the whole field lies somewhat apart 
from that of the New Thought, the mental-heal- 
ing movement has profited by it. Spiritualism 
is a protest against the materialism of the nine- 
teenth century. It is one of the signs of the 
times. We have been gradually coming to know 
what spirit-return means, what a genuine mes- 
sage from the other life would be. What we 
want is a better philosophy than that which 
psychical experiences ordinarily seem to imply. 

Psychology in the sense in which we now em- 
ploy the term did not exist when the New 
Thought movement began. We are now so ac- 
customed to the psychological point of view of 



The New Age 



every subject of public interest that we forget 
how recent it is. Modern science in general had 
to come first, then the theory of evolution, with 
the attempt to explain mental life on a biological 
basis, and the gradual transfer of interest to the 
inner life. The terms "suggestion," "subcon- 
scious," and the other words which we employ 
so freely are very new indeed. The old intel- 
lectualism in psychology prevailed for the most 
part throughout the nineteenth century. When 
a psychological laboratory was established at last 
it was in behalf of a physiological point of view, 
and like many other theories imported from Ger- 
many we have still to estimate the physiological 
theory in its true estate. In the end it may seem 
as far from the truth as the idealism and criti- 
cism which we are in process of examining anew. 
If psychology is a sign of the times we may 
well remind ourselves that the end is not yet. 
For there are many rivals in the field. The im- 
plied psychology of the New Thought is essen- 
tially practical and decidedly unlike that mental 
science which holds that the inner life is wholly 
determined by the brain. For the devotee of 
mental healing the mind is what actual success 
seems to prove it to be in the endeavor of the 
soul to conquer circumstance. It is well to study 
the history of mental healing without regard to 
the psychology of the laboratories. 



8 The New Thought Movement 

The new age began in part as a reaction 
against authority in favor of individualism and 
the right to test belief by personal experience. 
By acquiring the right to think for himself in re- 
ligious matters, man also gained freedom to live 
according to his convictions. Inner experience 
came into its own as the means of testing even 
the most exclusive teachings of the Church. The 
seat of authority was found by some in human 
reason, by others in what the Quakers call the 
inward light. Thus inward guidance led the 
way to another and more spiritual phase of liber- 
alism. The Emersonian idea of self-reliance is 
an expression of this faith in the light which 
shines for the individual within the sanctuary of 
the soul. After the mental-healing movement 
|had been in process for half a century its dev- 
otees saw in Emerson a prophet of the ideas 
for which they had been laboring in their own 
way, each within the sphere of his experience. 
This emphasis on inner experience is a sign of 
our age, but it took us a long while to read the 
signs. 

Now that we have passed into the social period 
we are able to appreciate the individualism of 
the nineteenth century. It was of course neces- 
sary for man to win the right to think for him- 
self, to test matters for himself, and to become 
aware of his subjective life in contrast with the 



The New Age 9 

objective. Man had to plead for salvation as 
the individual's privilege. He was eager to 
prove that the individual survived death, that a 
spirit could return and establish its identity. 
He also had to contend for the freedom of the 
individual in contrast with the tendency of evo- 
lutionism to regard man as a product of heredity 
and environment. Our whole modern view of 
success has grown up around a new conception 
of the individual. We have pleaded for man 
the individual in manifold ways since modern 
science made us acquainted with the theory of 
physical force, its laws, processes, and conditions. 
But in the twentieth century we have taken a 
long step beyond the individualism with which 
the modern liberal movement began. The pres- 
ent is the dawning age of brotherhood. It 
marks an advance not only beyond the theoret- 
ical idealism which emphasized Thought as the 
only reality but beyond all types of theory in 
which stress is placed upon the subjective. We 
have come out into the open again after the age- 
long endeavor to acquaint man with the inner 
life. We penetrated the inner world to gain new 
insights, to acquire the psychological point of 
view, to discover the psychical, to learn about 
suggestion and the subconscious. We had to 
learn that all real development is from within 
outward according to law. Today we are en- 



10 The New Thought Movement 

gaged in applying our new discoveries. The 
history of the New Thought is for the most part 
the record of one of several contemporaneous 
movements in favor of the inner life and the in- 
dividual. We can understand it now because 
our age has given us the contrast. To follow 
that history intelligently is to see in it an effort 
for knowledge and power which we now take as 
matter of course. Each of us has in a measure 
come to hold the present social point of view be- 
cause those who went before earned for us the 
right to individual salvation, gave us the inner 
point of view. 

It was the war more than any other event of 
our century which gave us the contrast through 
which we now understand the subjectivism of 
the nineteenth century. The war made us aware 
that we had travelled very far. It showed us 
the widespread social tendency of our age. It 
was the greatest objective social struggle the 
world has witnessed ; for never was the autocrat, 
the mere individual so effectively organized as 
in this "last war of the kings." Yet never was 
there such a social protest against every right 
which the mere individual takes unto himself in 
his effort to impose his ideas on the world. 
<- As a result we now see plainly that all true 
peace is social. Our nation was brought out of 
its isolation into prominence as a world-power to 



The New Age 11 

secure this larger, lasting peace. As a result 
we realize that justice is social. We are all 
pondering over the nature of social justice. We 
are aware that this is the great issue, now that 
we have turned from the war as an external en- 
terprise to interpret the warfare of the classes. 
We are pleading for moral and spiritual con- 
siderations as eagerly as before. But we see 
that, strictly speaking, the moral and spiritual 
are neither subjective nor objective: they are 
social. Hence we look for every clue that points 
toward cooperation and brotherhood. We are 
passing beyond the old competitive spirit. The 
nations have been brought close by working for 
a common end. Never before has the world wit- 
nessed such a spirit of service. 

This growing awareness of the intimacy of re- 
lationship of the individual with society has in- 
creased with us in line with the newer thought 
of God as immanent in the world, as the resident 
cause of all evolution. Our thought of God has 
become practical, concrete. This newer con- 
ception of God also belongs with the desire of 
the modern man to test everything for himself, 
to feel in his own life whatever man claims to 
have felt in the past that exalted him. Thus 
the practice of the presence of God follows as 
a natural consequence of the newer idea of man. 
The liberalism which set man free from the old 



12 The New Thought Movement 

theology left him free where he could turn to 
all the first-hand sources of religion for himself. 

In a practical sense of the word we may say 
that the new age is witnessing a return to the 
original Christianity of the Gospels. The great 
work of religious liberalism in the nineteenth 
century consisted in freeing the world of theol- 
ogies which we need never have believed. The 
war has brought us to the point where we can 
begin to appreciate what kind of social reform 
Christianity would have ushered in if it had been 
tried. The original teaching was social in the 
larger, truer sense. It called for brotherhood. 
It came to establish peace. It came that all men 
might have life and have it more abundantly. 
The spirit of the new age counsels us to return 
to the Bible as the Book of Life. It assures us 
anew that that which is spiritual must be spirit- 
ually discerned. It puts the emphasis on con- 
duct, on the life. It came to minister to the 
whole individual. Only through social salvation 
can we begin to attain its fulness. 

Granted the clues which our century affords 
us, we see clearly that the founders of Christian 
theology made a serious mistake when they 
divided the individual, assigning the problems 
of sin and salvation to the priest and neglecting 
the individual in the larger sense in which Jesus 
Christ ministered to him. Our age is giving the 



The New Age 13 



whole individual back to us. It is like a new 
discovery, this modern view of man as interiorly 
abounding in resources and outwardly social, a 
brother to all mankind. The last century wit- 
nessed the rediscovery of the inner life. The 
present is witnessing the rediscovery of man the 
social being. We are prepared at last to con- 
sider the question of health as at once individual 
and social. We had to understand man the 
social being before we could begin rightly to 
minister. 

The original Christianity was a gospel of 
healing in which the problems of sin and disease, 
of the individual in his relation to society, were 
not separated. The values of this gospel as a 
religion of healing were lost to view for ages. 
Our age has disclosed them anew. The mental- 
healing movement came into being to make these 
values clear. Its pioneers had to contend for 
recognition amidst universal unfriendliness. 
They had to begin their work several generations 
ago that we might enjoy its benefits today. 
Some of the devotees had to stand for very rad- 
ical views in order to attract attention. Thus 
Christian Science so-called had an office to per- 
form in contrast with the materialism of the age. 
Extremes beget extremes. Our part is to dis- 
cern the neglected truths, as old as the hills, but 
covered over with doctrines and dogmas. 



14 The New Thought Movement 

As a reaction against the materialism of the 
nineteenth century in favor of the original gos- 
pel of healing, we can hardly follow the history 
of the New Thought without reminding our- 
selves of the age as a whole against which it was 
a protest. But it would be easy to overestimate 
the influence of the environment in which the 
mental-healing movement appeared. A practi- 
cal protest headed by people who work in a quiet 
way to relieve human ills is very different from 
an intellectual protest such as religious liberal- 
ism. A practical protest cannot be explained by 
reference to ideas alone. It is a protest in be- 
half of life. It is an appeal to conduct. It be- 
comes known by its fruits long before it has a 
theory to give to the world. Its leaders educate 
themselves, not by going through the schools 
and assimilating the prevalent teachings, but by 
turning away to experiment for themselves. 

When the new theories have at last been pro- 
mulgated, we can look back and trace resem- 
blances in history as a whole. But the new theo- 
ries when propounded were probably far more 
out of accord with the generation in which they 
appeared than in harmony with it. The new 
views were for our own age, and that age had 
not come. We cannot in reality explain these 
views either by heredity or by reference to en- 
vironment. The true explanation calls for a re- 



The New Age 15 

turn to the idea that there is a purpose in crea- 
tion. The new development began early enough 
so that it would be ready when needed. 

In so far as the mental-healing movement be- 
gan as a protest this protest or reaction was 
made in a particular way, very different from 
that of the reaction which gave us modern liber- 
alism. Medical science was so far inferior to 
its present estate that it is difficult for us to put 
ourselves in sympathetic imagination back in 
Mr. Quimby's time, in 1840, to see why he spoke 
of physicians as "blind guides leading the blind," 
as "slave-drivers" compelling the sick to enter a 
bondage worse than that of slavery in the South. 
We need to divest the mind of very nearly every 
explanatory idea we now employ in order to ac- 
count for the vigor of that reaction. The spirit 
of the new age was there potentially, but it was 
merely potential. Mr. Quimby was far from 
being aware of it. He was simply a pioneer in- 
vestigator. Matters which we now understand 
by reference to psychology were still in such a 
crude state that people believed in a mysterious 
magnetic fluid by which a mesmeriser could put 
a subject into a curious state called "sleep." 
Nothing that a mental healer would call prom- 
ising had yet appeared. Disease was apparently 
an "entity" that attacked man from without. 
Whatever man may once have known about the 



16 The New Thought Movement 

influence of mind upon the body had been for- 
gotten. Never had a pioneer so few paths to 
follow. 

In retrospect, knowing the new age as we now 
do, we know of course that there were clues 
which might have been followed. There were 
books which Mr. Quimby could have read in 
which he might have learned the laws of the inti- 
mate relationships of mind and body. It seems 
natural for us to protest against medical mate- 
rialism. We take it for granted that any one 
who is in search of health will try to find help in 
any direction that is promising. The gospel of 
healing in the original Christianity is so plain to 
some of us that we wonder how any one could 
have missed it. But Mr. Quimby knew nothing 
about it. He had no psychological knowledge. 
The only defensible view concerning his relation 
to the new age which we can maintain is that the 
new light was shining in the inner world and any 
one who was sufficiently free from his age to 
turn to it might be enlightened, even though he 
were uneducated as education is commonly un- 
derstood in the world. 

What we shall understand the new age to 
mean in this the spiritual sense of the word is 
this shining of a new light which cannot be ac- 
counted for by reference to anything external. 
To try to explain it by studying the tendencies 



The New Age 17 



of the age as matters of material or intellectual 
history would be to try to explain the higher by 
the lower. All real causes are spiritual. New 
leaders appear when they are needed. A new 
work begins in the fitness of time according 
to the divine providence. To understand the 
causes we need a measure of the same enlighten- 
ment. The true verifications are those of ex- 
perience. Unless you are willing to seek light 
and test the principles in question for yourself 
you may not expect to understand. The new 
age bids us go to the sources for ourselves. 
Those sources are discoverable through the in- 
ward light, by the aid of intuition, through appre- 
ciation of the spiritual meaning of the Scrip- 
tures. The life comes before the doctrine. It 
is the fruits which indicate the value. Hence 
Mr. Quimb}^ said that the sick were his friends. 
Those who had been restored to health by spir- 
itual means were convinced that there was a great 
truth in the new method of healing. All the 
early healers, writers and teachers were healed 
in the new way, and the ideas were put forth on 
the basis of experience. In following the his- 
tory of the New Thought we are therefore con- 
cerned with practical life. The intellectual 
movements of the new age do not explain its 
practical tendencies. We cannot account for the 
New Thought unless we learn the sources of the 



18 The New Thought Movement 

gospel of healing, without which the New 
Thought in its present forms would not have 
come into being. 



II 

QUIMBY THE PIONEER 

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was a pioneer 
in the truest sense of the word. He did not 
carry on his investigations in the mental world 
as the representative of any sect or school. He 
was not aware that treasures lay before him in 
the promised land which he was about to enter. 
Few men have owed so little to the age in which 
they lived. His ancestors were not in any way 
remarkable. His early life gave no indication 
of the public work to which his productive years 
were to be devoted. He is not to be accounted 
for by reference to his education in the schools 
or by reference to the books which he read. Con- 
sequently, there is no reason for inquiring into his 
life, ancestry, and environment, as we ordinarily 
study the life of a man who has been of service 
to the world. At the outset he was simply an ex- 
plorer in a little known region, that is, a region 
little known in his day. He was like the hardy 
pioneer who makes his way through a primitive 
forest unaware of his destination, unacquainted 
with the difficulties along the way, and not bur- 
dened by the opinions of predecessors whose ad- 

19 



20 The New Thought Movement 

vice might have been misleading. When new 
lines of inquiry are to be developed for the good 
of mankind, God usually summons a man from 
the common walks of life, one who is sufficiently 
open and responsive to follow where the wis- 
dom within him leads. 

There is a great advantage in leadership of 
this sort. For the pioneer becomes acquainted 
with all the obstacles and grows strong by over- 
coming them. Face to face with difficult situa- 
tions, he must find a way to meet them. He is 
led to the first-hand sources of reality. He 
proves a principle which becomes to him a great 
truth because of his own immediate needs, and 
so he is able to appeal to tangible results by way 
of verification of his teachings. But those who 
merely follow, and that means the majority of 
mankind in every land and in all time, believe 
on authority and gradually lose touch with real- 
ity. Thus new pioneers, sages, or prophets are 
needed every now and then through the ages, to 
lead the way back to the original sources of life 
and truth. The moral would be, if we could read 
it, that we should all adopt the pioneer's spirit 
and explore for ourselves, learning the great les- 
son taught by those who made their own way in 
new fields. 

The spiritual pioneer in whose career we are 
at present interested lived a very simple early 



Quimby the Pioneer 21 

life. Born in a small New England town, he 
spent his entire life in New England, and his 
work was little known outside of Maine until 
after his death. He was born in Lebanon, New 
Hampshire, February 16, 1802. From there 
the family moved to Belfast, Maine, when he 
was about two years old. His death occurred in 
the latter place, January 16, 1866, at the close of 
twenty-five years in the practice of spiritual 
healing. 

His father was a blacksmith, and his life and 
education were such as one might enjoy in the 
humblest of homes in a country town in New 
England. Mr. Quimby attended school as a boy 
for a brief period only, and he acquired knowl- 
edge of the elementary branches with such train- 
ing as the district schools of the day afforded* 
The meagreness of his education is accounted 
for by the fact that there were few resources at 
hand, and his father was financially unable to 
give him other opportunities. If we conclude 
that he was in any degree an educated man, it 
will be because we deem education in the school 
of experience or in the inner life superior to 
that of the schools. 

Mr. Quimby had an inquiring, inventive type 
of mind, and during his middle life he produced 
several inventions on which he obtained letters- 
patent. He took great interest in scientific sub- 



22 The New Thought Movement 

jects but not in a way that led him to become 
a reader of scientific works. Nor was he ever a 
reader of books in general. His manuscripts 
contain remarkably few quotations or references, 
except that in his later years he frequently intro- 
duced passages from the New Testament in order 
to put his own interpretation upon them. He 
refers to but one philosopher by name, and he ap- 
pears never to have heard of the names of the 
idealists, such as Berkeley and Emerson, whose 
philosophy might have aided him had he been 
acquainted with their works. 

He felt no antagonism to the Church in his 
early years, but the churches seem to have had 
no direct influence upon him, and he did not 
take up the study of the New Testament until 
his investigations led him to a point where he 
believed he had a clue to its inner meaning. Al- 
though the title "doctor" has been applied to him, 
he was without medical or other therapeutic train- 
ing. In fact, he stood in avowed antagonism to 
the "old school" in the medical world. He was 
not a spiritist, despite the fact that the rise of 
spiritism in the United States was contempo- 
raneous with his work, and despite the resem- 
blance between some of his views and the teach- 
ings of spiritualists. 

The reason for his lack of interest in books is 
found in the fact that he regarded most books 



Quimby the Pioneer 23 

as full of unproved assertions, whereas he was 
interested to test all matters for himself. He 
was fond of referring to most statements pass- 
ing current in the world as knowledge in a some- 
what sceptical way, since this boasted knowledge 
seemed to him mere "opinion," in contrast with 
truth that could be established on a basis of veri- 
fiable evidence and sound reasoning. He did 
not raise objections as did people trained in the 
schools, through mere love of argument, but be- 
cause by implication he already possessed in- 
tuitively those principles which were to guide him 
in his investigations. His awakening came, not 
through intellectual development in the usual 
sense of the word, but through the demands of 
practical experience. 

At the time Mr. Quimby began his investiga- 
tions in the mental world he was described by a 
newspaper writer as "in size rather smaller than 
the medium of man, with a well-proportioned and 
well-balanced head, and with the power of con- 
centration surpassing anything we have ever wit- 
nessed. His eyes are black and very piercing, 
with rather a pleasant expression; and he pos- 
sesses the power of looking at one object, with- 
out even winking, for a great length of time." 
His son, George A. Quimby, in the New Eng- 
land Magazine, March, 1888, adds to this de- 
scription the fact that Mr. Quimby weighed 



24 The New Thought Movement 

about one hundred and twenty -five pounds ; that 
he was quick-motioned and nervous, with a high, 
broad forehead, a rather prominent nose, and a 
mouth indicating strength and firmness of will, 
"persistent in what he undertook, and not easily 
discouraged." 

Speaking of Quimby's discoveries, Mr. Julius 
A. Dresser says, "If you think this seems to 
show that Quimby was a remarkable man, let 
me tell you that he was one of the most unas- 
suming of men that ever lived; for no one could 
well be more so, or make less account of his 
achievements. Humility was a marked feature 
of his character (I knew him intimately). To 
this was united a benevolent and an unselfish na- 
ture, and a love of truth, with a remarkably keen 
perception. But the distinguishing feature of 
his mind was that he could not entertain an 
opinion, because it was not knowledge. His fac- 
ulties were so practical and perceptive that the 
wisdom of mankind, which is largely made up of 
opinions, was of little value to him. Hence the 
charge that he was not an educated man is lit- 
erally true. True knowledge to him was posi- 
tive proof, as in a problem in mathematics. 
Therefore, he discarded books and sought phe- 
nomena, where his perceptive faculties made him 
master of the situation." x 

i The True History of Mental Science. 



Quimby the Pioneer 25 

Another writer, speaking of the impression 
produced upon Mr. Quimby's patients, says, 
"He seemed to know at once the attitude of mind 
of those who applied to him for help, and adapted 
himself to them accordingly. His years of study 
of the human mind, of sickness in all its forms, 
and of the prevailing religious beliefs, gave him 
the ability to see through the opinions, doubts, 
and fears of those who sought his aid, and put 
him in instant sympathy with their mental atti- 
tude. He seemed to know that I had come to 
him feeling that he was a last resort, and with but 
little faith in him or his mode of treatment. But, 
instead of telling me that I was not sick, he sat 
beside me, and explained to me what my sickness 
was, how I got into the condition, and the way 
I could be taken out of it through the right un- 
derstanding. He seemed to see through the sit- 
uation from the beginning, and explained the 
cause and effect so clearly that I could see a little 
of what he meant. . . . 

"The most vivid remembrance I have ... is 
his appearance as he came out of his private 
office ready for the next patient. That inde- 
scribable sense of conviction, of clear-sightedness, 
of energetic action — that something that made 
one feel that it would be useless to attempt to 
cover up or hide anything from him — made an 
impression never to be forgotten. Even now in 



26 The New Thought Movement 

recalling it ... I can feel the thrill of new life 
which came with his presence and his look. 
There was something about him that gave one 
a sense of perfect confidence and ease in his pres- 
ence — a feeling that immediately banished all 
doubts and prejudices, and put one in sympathy 
with that quiet strength or power by which he 
wrought his cures." 1 

The attitude of mind which Mr. Quimby was 
in when he began to investigate is clearly indi- 
cated by the following from an article written in 
1863 in which he describes what he calls his "con- 
version from disease to health, and the subse- 
quent changes from belief in the medical faculty 
to entire disbelief in it," and to the knowledge 
of the truth on which he based his theory of 
spiritual healing. 

"Can a theory be found," Mr. Quimby asks, 
"can a theory be found, capable of practice, 
which can separate truth from error? I under- 
take to say there is a method of reasoning which, 
being understood, can separate one from the 
other. Men never dispute about a fact that 
can be demonstrated by scientific reasoning. 
Controversies arise from some idea that has been 
turned into a false direction, leading to a false 
position. The basis of my reasoning is this 
point: that whatever is true to a person, if he 

i A. G. Dresser, The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 45. 



Quimby the Pioneer 27 

cannot prove it is not necessarily true to an- 
other. Therefore, because a person says a thing 
is no reason that he says true. The greatest evil 
that follows taking an opinion for a truth is dis- 
ease. Let medical and religious opinions, which 
produce so vast an amount of misery, be tested by 
the rule I have laid down, and it will be seen how 
much they are founded in truth. For twenty 
years I have been investigating them, and I have 
failed to find one single principle of truth in 
either. This is not from any prejudice against 
the medical faculty ; for, when I began to investi- 
gate the mind, I was entirely on that side. I was 
prejudiced in favor of the medical faculty; for 
I never employed any one outside of the regular 
faculty, nor took the least particle of quack medi- 
cine. 

"Some thirty years ago I was very sick, and 
was considered fast wasting away with consump- 
tion. At that time I became so low that it was 
with difficulty I could walk about. I was all the 
while under the allopathic practice, and I had 
taken so much calomel that my system was said 
to be poisoned with it; and I had lost many of 
my teeth from the effect. My symptoms were 
those of any consumptive; and I had been told 
that my liver was affected and my kidneys dis- 
eased, and that my lungs were nearly consumed. 
I believed all this, from the fact that I had all 



28 The New Thought Movement 

the symptoms, and could not resist the opinions 
of the physician while having the [supposed] 
proof with me. In this state I was compelled to 
abandon my business; and, losing all hope, I 
gave up to die — not that I thought the medical 
faculty had no wisdom, but that my case was 
one that could not be cured. 

"Having an acquaintance who cured himself 
by riding horseback, I thought I would try rid- 
ing in a carriage, as I was too weak to ride horse- 
back. My horse was contrary; and, once, when 
about two miles from home, he stopped at the 
foot of a long hill, and would not start except as 
I went by his side. So I was obliged to run 
nearly the whole distance. Having reached the 
top of the hill I got into the carriage; and, as I 
was very much exhausted, I concluded to sit there 
the balance of the day, if the horse did not start. 
Like all sickly and nervous people, I could not 
remain easy in that place ; and seeing a man plow- 
ing, I waited till he had plowed around a three- 
acre lot, and got within sound of my voice, when 
I asked him to start my horse. He did so, and 
at the time I was so weak I could scarcely lift 
my whip. But excitement took possession of my 
senses, and I drove the horse as fast as he could 
go, up hill and down, till I reached home; and, 
when I got into the stable, I felt as strong as ever 
I did." 



Quimby the Pioneer 29 

This experience was of course only the begin- 
ning. It led Mr. Quimby to doubt the diagnosis 
in his case. It showed him what could be ac- 
complished through a vigorous arousing out of a 
state of bondage and mere acceptance. He was 
not cured, but precisely what his malady was and 
how it would be overcome he did not know. It 
was his investigation of the phenomena of hypno- 
tism, then called mesmerism, which gave him the 
direct clue. 

The subject of mesmerism was introduced into 
the United States in 1836 by Charles Poyen, a 
Frenchman, and was taken up in New England 
by a Dr. Collyer, who gave a lecture with dem- 
onstrations in Belfast, Maine, in 1838. Mr. 
Quimby regarded the mesmeric sleep, or hypno- 
sis as it would now be called, as an interesting 
phenomenon worthy of investigation, and with- 
out knowing what his interest would lead to he 
began to experiment, and in 1840 gave his first 
public demonstrations. Whenever opportunity 
offered, he had tried to put people into the mes- 
meric sleep. Sometimes he failed, but again he 
found a person whom he could influence. 

"In the course of his trials with subjects," 
says Mr. George A. Quimby in the account 
quoted from above, Mr. Quimby "met with a 
young man named Lucius Burkmar over whom 
he had the most wonderful influence ; and it is not 



30 The New Thought Movement 

stating it too strongly to assert that with him he 
made some of the most astonishing exhibitions of 
mesmerism and clairvoyance that have been given 
in modern times. 

"Mr. Quimby 's manner of operating with his 
subject was to sit opposite to him, holding both 
his hands in his, and looking him intently in the 
eye for a short time, when the subject would go 
into that state known as the mesmeric sleep, 
which was more properly a peculiar condition of 
mind and body, in which the natural senses would 
or would not operate at the will of Mr. Quimby. 
When conducting his experiments, all communi- 
cations on the part of Mr. Quimby with Lucius 
were mentally given, the subject replying as if 
spoken to aloud. . . . 

"As the subject gained more prominence, 
thoughtful men began to investigate the matter; 
and Mr. Quimby was often called upon to have 
his subject examine the sick. He would put Lu- 
cius into the mesmeric state, who would then ex- 
amine the patient, describe his disease, and pre- 
scribe remedies for its cure. 

"After a time Mr. Quimby became convinced 
that, whenever the subject examined a patient, 
his diagnosis of the case would be identical with 
what either the patient or some one else present 
believed, instead of Lucius really looking into the 
patient and giving the true condition of the or- 



Quimby the Pioneer 31 

gans; in fact, that he was reading the opinion 
in the mind of some one rather than stating a 
truth acquired by himself. 

"Becoming firmly satisfied that this was the 
case, and having seen how one mind could influ- 
ence another, and how much there was that had 
always been considered as true, but was merely 
some one's opinion, Mr. Quimby gave up his sub- 
ject, Lucius, and began the developing of what 
is now known as mental healing, or curing dis- 
ease through the mind." 

That this discovery concerning the influence 
of medical opinion and the influence of one mind 
on another was worth pursuing to the end is 
clear from Mr. Quimby's account of the way he 
overcame his own illness. He was still in quest 
of health while experimenting with Lucius. 
His investigations showed him that there was a 
great discrepancy between the ordinary diag- 
nosis and the actual state of a person suffering 
from disease, and it occurred to him that light 
could be thrown on his own malady. In fact, 
he had been led to believe by the astonishing re- 
sults produced in cases where Lucius made an 
intuitive diagnosis that disease itself was, as he 
tells us, "a deranged state of mind," the cause 
of which is to be found in some one's unfortunate 
belief. "Disease," he assures us, and its power 
over life, its curability, "are all embraced in our 



32 The New Thought Movement 

belief. Some believe in various remedies, and 
others believe that the spirits of the dead pre- 
scribe. I have no confidence in the virtue of 
either. I know that cures have been made in 
these ways. I do not deny them. But the prin- 
ciple on which they are done is the question to 
solve ; for the disease can be cured, with or with- 
out medicine, on but one principle" 

When he had discovered what that principle 
was and how it could be employed, namely, by 
producing changes in the mind of the patient 
holding the belief in question and subject to 
medical opinion, with all that this dependence 
implies, he saw that it was no longer necessary 
to make use of his mesmeric subject, but that 
he could apply the principle directly himself. 
First, however, he had to prove the principle by 
recovering his own health. 

"Now for my particular experience," writes 
Mr. Quimby in the article quoted in The True 
History of Mental Science. "I had pains in 
the back, which, they said, were caused by my 
kidneys, which were partly consumed. I also 
was told that I had ulcers on my lungs. Under 
this belief, I was miserable enough to be of no 
account in the world. This was the state I 
was in when I commenced to mesmerize. On 
one occasion, when I had my subject asleep, he 
described the pains I felt in my back (I had 



Quimby the Pioneer 33 

never dared to ask him to examine me, for I felt 
sure that my kidneys were nearly gone), and he 
placed his hand on the spot where I felt the pain. 
He then told me that my kidneys were in a very 
bad state, — that one was half consumed, and a 
piece three inches long had separated from it, 
and was only connected by a slender thread. 
This was what I believed to be true, for it agreed 
with what the doctors had told me, and with 
what I had suffered; for I had not been free 
from pain for years. My common sense told me 
that no medicine would ever cure this trouble, 
and therefore I must suffer till death relieved 
me. But I asked him if there was any remedy. 
He replied, c Yes, I can put the piece on so it 
will grow, and you will get well.' At this I 
was completely astonished, and knew not what 
to think. He immediately placed his hands 
upon me, and said he united the pieces so they 
would grow. The next day he said they had 
grown together, and from that day I never have 
experienced the least pain from them. 

"Now what was the secret of the cure? I had 
not the least doubt but that I was as he de- 
scribed; and, if he had said, as I expected he 
would, that nothing could be done, I should 
have died in a year or so. But, when he said he 
could cure me in the way he proposed, I began 
to think; and I discovered that I had been de- 



34 The New Thought Movement 

ceived into a belief that made me sick. The ab- 
surdity of his remedies made me doubt the fact 
that my kidneys were diseased, for he said in 
two days that they were as well as ever. If he 
saw the first condition, he also saw the last; for 
in both cases he said he could see. I concluded 
in the first instance that he read my thoughts, 
and when he said he could cure me he drew on 
his own mind; and his ideas were so absurd that 
the disease vanished by the absurdity of the 
cure. This was the first stumbling-block I 
found in the medical science. I soon ventured 
to let him examine me further, and in every 
case he could describe my feelings, but would 
vary about the amount of disease; and his ex- 
planation and remedies always convinced me 
that I had no such disease, and that my troubles 
were of my own make. 

"At this time I frequently visited the sick 
with Lucius, by invitation of the attending phy- 
sician; and the boy examined the patient, and 
told facts that would astonish everybody, and 
yet every one of them was believed. For in- 
stance, he told of a person affected as I had been, 
only worse, that his lungs looked like a honey- 
comb, and his liver was covered with ulcers. 
He then prescribed some simple herb tea, and 
the patient recovered; and the doctor believed 
the medicine cured him. But I believed the doc- 



Quimby the Pioneer 35 

tor made the disease; and his faith in the boy 
made a change in the mind, and the cure fol- 
lowed. Instead of gaining confidence in the 
doctors, I was forced to the conclusion that their 
science is false. 

"Man is made up of truth and belief; and, if 
he is deceived into a belief that he has, or is liable 
to have a disease, the belief is catching, and the 
effect follows it. I have given the experience 
of my emancipation from this belief and from 
my confidence in the doctors, so that it may open 
the eyes of those who stand where I was. I have 
risen from this belief; and I return to warn my 
brethren, lest, when they are disturbed, they 
shall get into this place of torment prepared by 
the medical faculty. Having suffered myself, I 
cannot take advantage of my fellowmen by in- 
troducing a new mode of curing disease by pre- 
scribing medicine. My theory exposes the hy- 
pocrisy of those who undertake to cure in that 
way. They make ten diseases to one cure, thus 
bringing a surplus of misery into the world, and 
shutting out a healthy state of society. . . . 
When I cure, there is one disease the less. . . . 
My theory teaches man to manufacture health; 
and, when people go into this occupation, dis- 
ease will diminish, and those who furnish dis- 
ease and death will be few and scarce." 

Had Mr. Quimby been willing to take ad- 



36 The New Thought Movement 

vantage of people, he might have continued to 
employ his subject in the diagnosing of disease, 
for it was evident that no one else understood 
the significance of his discovery that with a 
change of mind a cure would follow. If he had 
been content with his own restoration to health, 
he might have used his subject instead of exert- 
ing himself to develop his own mental powers. 
But, naturally honest and determined to get at 
the truth, Quimby dropped mesmerism once for 
all. And well he might, for his experiments had 
made him acquainted with himself. He saw that 
the human spirit possesses other powers than 
those of the senses, and can influence another 
mind directly, that is, without the aid of spoken 
language. He realized that he too possessed 
clairvoyant or intuitive powers, and that it was 
not necessary for the mind to be put into the 
mesmeric sleep in order to exercise these powers. 
His subject, Lucius, had done little more than 
to read the mind of a patient, discover what the 
person in question thought was his disease, and 
then prescribe some simple remedy in which the 
patient was led to believe. This was merely to 
make use of suggestion, as we now call it, and 
Quimby's discovery had disclosed the mind's sug- 
gestibility. Mr. Quimby wanted to go further. 
He was eager to know the full truth concerning 
disease and its cure by the one fundamental 



Qtjimby the Pioneer 37 

principle implied in all cases, whatever the ap- 
pearances in favor of medicine. To have re- 
mained where his experiments with mesmerism 
brought him would have been to practise mental 
healing simply. Mr. Quimby's impetus was 
spiritual, and he did not rest until he had ac- 
quired spiritual insight into the whole field of 
the inner life. His experiments with Lucius 
were merely introductory to his life work. 

It is interesting to read what Mr. George 
Quimby says of his father's discovery, for he was 
his father's secretary for years and had oppor- 
tunity to follow Quimby's work with the sick in 
all its details, although he was not himself a 
healer. 

Mr. Quimby informs us that his father spent 
years developing the method and theory of spir- 
itual healing, fighting the battle alone, and la- 
boring with great energy and steadiness of pur- 
pose. "To reduce his discovery to a science 
which could be taught for the benefit of suffer- 
ing humanity was the all-absorbing idea of his 
life. To develop his 'theory,' or 'the Truth,' as 
he always termed it, so that others than himself 
could understand and practise it, was what he 
labored for. Had he been of a sordid and 
grasping nature, he might have acquired unlim- 
ited wealth; but for that he seemed to have no 
desire. . . . 



38 The New Thought Movement 

"Each step was in opposition to all the estab- 
lished ideas of the day, and was ridiculed and 
combated by the whole medical faculty and the 
great mass of the people. In the sick and suf- 
fering he always found staunch friends, who 
loved him and believed in him, and stood by him ; 
but they were but a handful compared with 
those on the other side. 

"While engaged in his mesmeric experiments, 
Mr. Quimby became more and more convinced 
that disease was an error of the mind, and not a 
real thing; and in this he was misunderstood by 
others, and accused of attributing the sickness 
of the patient to the imagination, which was the 
reverse of the fact. 'If a man feels a pain, he 
knows he feels it, and there is no imagination 
about it,' he used to say. But the fact that the 
pain might be a state of the mind, while appar- 
ent in the body, he did believe. As one can suf- 
fer in a dream all that it is possible in a waking 
state, so Mr. Quimby averred that the same con- 
dition of mind might operate on the body in the 
form of disease, and still be no more of a reality 
than was the dream." 

In view of the fact that some one has tried 
to belittle Mr. Quimby as an "ignorant mesmer- 
ist" who never advanced beyond this crude mode 
of influencing people, it is significant to read 
this authoritative statement in his son's account: 



Quimby the Pioneer 39 

"As the truths of his discovery began to develop 
and grow in him, just in the same proportion 
did he begin to lose faith in the efficacy of mes- 
merism as a remedial agent in the cure of the 
sick; and after a few years he discarded it alto- 
gether. 

"Instead of putting the patient into a mes- 
meric sleep, Mr. Quimby would sit by him ; and, 
after giving a detailed account of what his trou- 
bles were, he would simply converse with him, 
and explain the causes of his troubles, and thus 
change the mind of the patient, and disabuse it 
of its error and establish the truth in its place, 
which, if done, was the cure. . . . 

"Mr. Quimby always denied emphatically 
that he used any mesmeric or mediumistic 
power. He was always in his normal condition 
when engaged with his patient. He never went 
into any trance, and was a strong disbeliever in 
spiritualism, as understood by that name. He 
claimed, and firmly held, that his only power 
consisted in his wisdom, and in his understand- 
ing the patient's case and being able to explain 
away the error and establish the truth, or health, 
in its place. . . . 

"In the year 1859 Mr. Quimby went to Port- 
land, where he remained till the summer of 
1865, treating the sick by his peculiar method. 
It was his custom to converse at length with 



40 The New Thought Movement 

many of his patients who became interested in 
his method of treatment, and try to unfold to 
them his ideas. 

"Among his earlier patients in Portland were 
the Misses Ware, daughters of the late Judge 
Ashur Ware, of the United States Court; and 
they became much interested in 'the Truth,' as 
he called it. 1 But the ideas were so new, and 
his reasoning was so divergent from the popular 
conceptions that they found it difficult to follow 
him or remember all he said ; and they suggested 
to him the propriety of putting into writing the 
body of his thoughts. 

"From that time he began to write out his 
ideas, which practice he continued until his 
death, the articles now being in the possession 
of the writer of this sketch. The original copy 
he would give to the Misses Ware; and it would 
be read to him by them, and, if he suggested any 
alteration, it would be made, after which it 
would be copied either by the Misses Ware or 
the writer of this, and then reread to him, that 
he might see that all was just as he intended it. 
Not even the most trivial word or the construc- 
tion of a sentence would be changed without 
consulting him. He was given to repetition; 
and it was with difficulty that he could be in- 

i See The Spirit of the New Thought, "Can Disease be Entirely- 
Destroyed?" by Emma G. Ware, p. 67. 



Quimby the Pioneer 41 

duced to have a repeated sentence or phrase 
stricken out, as he would say, 'If that idea is a 
good one, and true, it will do no harm to have 
it in two or three times.' " 

It was during the period of his more impor- 
tant practice in Portland that those patients vis- 
ited him who were later to spread his ideas in 
the world. The first of these was Mr. Julius 
A. Dresser, who went to him as a patient when 
near the point of death in June, 1860, and who 
became so deeply interested in Mr. Quimby's 
teachings that after regaining his health he de- 
voted the larger part of his time to explaining 
the new ideas and methods of Mr. Quimby's 
patients. Among these patients was Miss An- 
netta G. Seabury, afterwards Mrs. Julius A. 
Dresser; and Mrs. Mary Baker Patterson, 
later Mrs. Eddy, author of Science and Health. 
In 1863, Rev. W. F. Evans visited Mr. Quimby 
as a patient and became at once so ardent a fol- 
lower that he devoted the remainder of his life 
to promulgating the spiritual philosophy im- 
plied in the method and ideas which he gained 
from Quimby. 

It was Mr. Quimby's intention to retire from 
his practice with the sick and write a book set- 
ting forth his teachings in permanent form. 
Had he done so, there would have been no con- 
troversy over the origin of mental healing in our 



42 The New Thought Movement 

day, and the later writers would not have ac- 
quired the habit of setting forth his views as if 
they had been original enough to acquire them 
out of the air by "revelation." But Mr. 
Dresser always maintained that there was a wis- 
dom in the delay, since the public was then un- 
prepared for them. Mr. Evans, who became 
the first author to develop these ideas, was per- 
haps better fitted for his work than was Mr. 
Quimby, since he was well read and able to put 
forth those ideas which were best calculated to 
win the public at the time he wrote. Mean- 
while, the manuscript books into which Mr. 
Quimby's articles were copied have been pre- 
served and some of us have had access to them 
in connection with our work of giving the new 
ideas to the world. 

Mr. George Quimby concludes the account 
of his father's life with a brief reference to Mr. 
Quimby's view of life as a whole: "Mr. 
Quimby, although not belonging to any church 
or sect, had a deeply religious nature, holding 
firmly to God as the first cause, and fully be- 
lieving in immortality and progression after 
death, though entertaining entirely original con- 
ceptions of what death is. He believed that 
Jesus's mission was to the sick, and that he per- 
formed his cures in a scientific manner, and 
perfectly understood how he did them. Mr. 



Quimby the Pioneer 43 

Quimby was a great reader of the Bible, but put 
a construction upon it thoroughly in harmony 
with his train of thought. 

"Mr. Quimby's idea of happiness was to bene- 
fit mankind, especially the sick and suffering; 
and to that end he labored and gave his life and 
strength. His patients not only found in him a 
doctor, but a sympathizing friend; and he took 
the same interest in treating a charity patient 
that he did a wealthy one. Until the writer 
went with him as secretary, he kept no accounts 
and made no charges. He left the keeping of 
books entirely with his patients; and, although 
he pretended to have a regular price for visits 
and attendance, he took at settlement whatever 
the patient chose to pay him. . . . 

"An hour before he breathed his last he said 
to the writer: 'I am more than ever convinced 
of the truth of my theory. I am perfectly wil- 
ling for the change myself, but I know you will 
all feel badly; but I know that I shall be right 
here with you, just the same as I have always 
been. I do not dread the change any more than 
if I were going on a trip to Philadelphia.' His 
death occurred January 16, 1866, at his resi- 
dence in Belfast, at the age of sixty-four 
years. . . ." 



Ill 

quimby's method of healing 

It was a long step from dependence on the 
medical practice of the day to Mr. Quimby's 
experiments with his subject, Lucius. It was 
a much longer step, involving a more coura- 
geous departure from accepted beliefs, when he 
gave up his subject and developed a mode of 
treatment not at that time practised anywhere 
else in the world. The first change was from 
one theory of mental life to another, and the 
change did not necessarily imply a different 
view of the natural world. But the second was 
radical. It implied a spiritual philosophy of 
life as a whole. The emphasis was shifted from 
human beliefs in relation to bodily processes to 
divine causality and its meaning in the progress 
of the human soul. Mr. Quimby's discovery 
concerning the influence of belief in the cause 
and cure of disease was incidental to his pro- 
founder discovery that man is a spiritual being, 
living an essentially spiritual life in the higher 
world above the flesh, the eternal spiritual world 
of our relationship with God. 

The progress which Mr. Quimby thus made 

44 



Quimby's Method of Healing 45 

was natural and logical. His experiments first 
made him acquainted with the clairvoyant or 
intuitive powers of his subject, Lucius, then 
showed him that he too possessed such powers 
and so need not depend on Lucius. His rea- 
soning was that these higher powers in the hu- 
man spirit imply the existence of a guiding prin- 
ciple or wisdom common to us all, that this prin- 
ciple is God in us; hence that the soul is in im- 
mediate relation with the divine mind. Fur- 
thermore, he had concluded that, whatever the ex- 
planation offered, all healing takes place accord- 
ing to one principle, and this too he attributed 
to the divine in man. His experiments had 
taught him that one mind can influence another 
directly, the one being receptive, the other af- 
firmative. It was but one step more to adopt 
the principle that as thought may influence an- 
other's mind directly spiritual power is capable 
of such influence too. Hence Mr. Quimby ad- 
vanced from the discovery that thoughts and 
mental atmospheres affect another's mind ac- 
cording to the belief or expectation to the con- 
clusion that one spirit may operate directly on 
another spirit, and that the basis of this spiritual 
activity is the divine in us. Although naturally 
active, affirmative in type, with exceptional 
powers of concentration, Mr. Quimby was as we 
have seen above also humble, not inclined to take 



46 The New Thought Movement 

credit to himself. It was natural, therefore, 
that he should reach the highest conclusion of 
all, namely, that the efficiency was divine, that 
it was through the divine wisdom that he 
achieved his cures. 

The acceptance of these principles and con- 
clusions implied a different philosophy of life 
because, in the first place, it became clear that 
all reality fundamentally speaking is spiritual. 
Mr. Quimby did not undertake to develop his 
theory into a philosophy of the universe as a 
whole. That was not his province. Nor did he 
have the training or the acquaintance with 
idealism. The references to the outer world 
which he makes in his manuscripts were purely 
practical in nature, to the effect that life for each 
of us is essentially what we make it by our be- 
lief, our attitude or way of taking it. This atti- 
tude was, for most people, so he saw clearly, 
largely the effect of opinions taken for truth. 
But he also saw that there was a way of taking 
life which implied the supremacy of the spiritual 
over the material. For him all causes were in 
reality spiritual. The world springs from spir- 
itual sources. Experience is for the benefit of 
spiritual beings. We might then acquire a com- 
plete spiritual view. This would disclose the 
truth in contrast with mere opinion, the truth 
which is the same for all. It would imply a spir- 



Quimby's Method of Healing 47 

itual science. And this science was involved in 
the method by which Mr. Quimby wrought his 
cures. 

The instructive consideration for those of us 
who are concerned to follow the development of 
this philosophy and test its principles for our- 
selves lies in the fact that Mr. Quimby found the 
guiding principle in his own inner experience, 
and proved it through the recovery of his health 
and the healing of others before he found any 
evidences that what he called "the truth" or 
"theory" had ever been held before. Fortu- 
nately, his mind was not encumbered by doctrines 
which had first to be outgrown, save that he had 
shared the conventional beliefs of his day in medi- 
cal practice and was at least a believer in a gen- 
eral way in the Bible. His real study of the 
Bible began with the conclusion that the way 
which life had led him was the way described in 
the New Testament, hence that he had rediscov- 
ered the method of healing by which Jesus 
wrought, not his "miracles," but his highly intelli- 
gible works of healing. His work with the sick 
seemed to him to imply a spiritual science, a 
"science of life and happiness," as he called it. 
This science he found implicit in the teachings of 
Christ. The Bible thus became doubly true for 
him, because of his former belief in God, now 
transfigured in the light of his discoveries; and 



48 The New Thought Movement 

because his insight into the nature and meaning 
of life had made plain the way to the spiritual 
interpretation of the Scriptures. His manu- 
scripts are for the most part devoted to a study 
of his experiences with the sick in such a way as 
to show that the truths they implied were the 
truths which Jesus came to reveal. 

Just as his guidance had led him to attribute 
his cures, which were indeed remarkable, to the 
divine efficiency, not to any power which he, the 
man Quimby, possessed ; so now he looked to the 
Bible as containing a higher than human wisdom, 
a wisdom which he called "the Christ" in contrast 
with the man Jesus who came to teach this science 
of the Christ. Had Mr. Quimby been under- 
stood by the writer who later did more than any 
one to popularize the less profound principles for 
which he stood, the history of the mental-healing 
movement might have been very different. For 
what Mr. Quimby intended was that all should 
come to recognize the divine wisdom in them- 
selves, that they should take no credit to them- 
selves, should not exalt the finite self; but 
should acquire and teach the spiritual principles 
which Jesus gave to the world as a science, call- 
ing attention to that science, not to themselves. 

According to Mr. Quimby's version of this 
Christian science, as he calls it in two of his arti- 
cles, although his usual term is "the science of life 



Quimby 's Method of Healing 49 

and happiness," the emphasis is put upon the 
truth which sets the soul free. For his practice 
with the sick had taught him that when a patient 
understood the real causes of his trouble the dis- 
ease could be banished. The "explanation is the 
cure," he repeatedly said. This explanation in- 
volved the discovery of the inner or spiritual 
point of view. The emphasis being put upon the 
truth, Mr. Quimby did not make use of "de- 
nials," as the affirmations were later called by 
those who grasped this theory in part only. 
When the truth is seen, it is not necessary to deny 
its opposite. The error or "false belief" that led 
to the trouble was negative or destructive. The 
truth through which the cure was wrought was 
positive or constructive. What Mr. Quimby en- 
deavored to do was to build up a different atti- 
tude toward life on the basis of principles which 
all could understand. 

Mr. Quimby 's departure from the point of 
view of his experiments therefore involved a radi- 
cal change in attitude towards a patient. The 
mesmeriser or hypnotist merely tries to influence 
or control another's mind, as Quimby directed 
Lucius. But the spiritual healer regards him- 
self as an organ of the divine life, a means only, 
not a controlling agent. He does not try to in- 
fluence. He makes no attempt to control. He 
has no desire to control or manage. He regards 



50 The New Thought Movement 

himself as a lamp -bearer disclosing the way out 
of the dark places of the soul into the light of the 
divine wisdom. There can be no freedom and 
no cure unless the patient sees for himself. 
Thus Mr. Quimby was healer and teacher at the 
same time. Unless we understand this two-fold 
office which he fulfilled, we are likely to misin- 
terpret statements, such as the proposition that 
"disease is an error the only remedy for which 
is truth," and we are in danger of dismissing 
many of his views as absurd. 

To understand what Mr. Quimby meant is to 
\ see that he regarded every man in the light of the 
divine guidance. That is, there is divine wisdom 
for each of us, resident within us, accessible 
through intuition. Mr. Quimby was the friend 
of those who needed to be brought into relation 
with the divine within them. He sought the 
guidance for the individual in question, according 
to need, for the occasion. Naturally then there 
could be no mere formula or arrangement of 
words, no magic affirmation by which to dismiss 
a disease as with a gesture of command. There 
was no reason to deny either what the patient 
thought was his disease or the physical symptoms, 
to ignore the body or make light of the natural 
world. What was needed was a new point of 
view of all these things. The misinterpretation 
of symptoms would disappear with the accept- 



\ 



Quimby's Method of Healing 51 

ance of the true view. The bodily effect would 
be understood when the cause should become 
plain. The flesh would assume its proper place 
in the light of the new spiritual vision. Mr. 
Quimby aimed at nothing short of a religious or 
spiritual conversion such that the whole of life 
should appear under a different aspect. This 
wonderful work he wrought for his more respon- 
sive followers. It is not surprising that they be- 
came his friends and found occupation for a life- 
time in the development of his teachings. 

There was one more discovery which we need 
to bear in mind in order to have Mr. Quimby's 
method completely before us. His practice with 
the sick in the early years while he was acquiring 
his method taught him that there is much more 
in the human mind than we are ordinarily or even 
at any time conscious of. Not by any consent on 
our own part have we become the recipients of 
the beliefs, notions, and ideas which give us our 
erroneous views of life. We have taken them on 
from our mental environment. Our minds are 
fertile places in which beliefs germinate. The 
mind in this deeper, hidden sense, is indeed very 
much like the soil. It consists of spiritual sub- 
stance, "spiritual matter" was Quimby's term 
at first. Its products directly influence us and 
our bodies without the intervention of the will. 
It is indeed unconscious or subconscious. But 



52 The New Thought Movement 

this hidden mind is accessible to the spiritual 
healer. Its contents can be discerned. The hid- 
den and disturbing influences can be brought to 
light. Changes wrought within it will become 
manifest in the body. It is in fact an intermed- 
iary between mind and body, an intermingling 
substance. 

In contrast with the beliefs discoverable in this 
hidden mind, Mr. Quimby in the constructive 
part of his treatment addressed himself to the 
"real man," the spirit, who needed to be sum- 
moned into power. He held that there is a part 
of the soul that is not sick, that is potentially or 
ideally one with God in image and likeness. For 
God did not create man to be ill. He created 
him for health and freedom. Disease is the in- 
vention of man through misinterpretation of sen- 
sation, through judgments based on appearances, 
on symptoms, effects, externals. Health is ours 
by divine birthright, hence by implication in our 
very being in that "secret place" of the soul, that 
part of us that can never be ill. This element of 
our selfhood can be summoned into activity. We 
can become aware of it and begin to live by it. 
We can throw off our bondages. We can learn 
to live as God would have us live. 

The silent spiritual treatment which was Mr. 
Quimby's chief discovery, his greatest gift to the 
world, consisted in a process of inner realization 



Quimby's Method of Healing 53 

calculated to awaken this inner spiritual nature 
into exercise. The intuitive diagnosis with 
which the treatment began led the way to the 
main point, the centre of need in the patient. It 
disclosed the real as opposed to the apparent con- 
dition. It yielded the divine guidance for the 
occasion, according to the need. The spiritual 
realization then grew out of the intuitive discov- 
ery of the patient's inner state. It was made ef- 
fective by Mr. Quimby's great power of concen- 
tration quickened by his consciousness of the di- 
vine wisdom, his practical way of realizing the 
presence of God. The treatment was spiritual 
rather than mental since the thought or idea was 
secondary to the power, the human agent or 
organ secondary to the divine wisdom. Mr. 
Quimby had no way of his own to impose on an- 
other's mind. Hence his spirit was open to "the 
wisdom of the occasion." 

In setting forth his method of treatment, Mr. 
Quimby always drew a distinction between the 
lower mind which he called "spiritual matter" 
(or substance) , and the mind we might come into 
possession of by learning our true nature as spir- 
itual beings. Thus he says in one of his articles, 
"My theory is founded on the fact that mind is 
matter; and, if you will admit this for the sake 
of listening to my ideas, I will give you my 
theory . . . All knowledge that is of man is 



54 The New Thought Movement 

based on opinions. This I call this world of 
[spiritual] matter. It embraces all that comes 
within the so-called senses. Man's happiness 
and misery are in his belief; but the wisdom of 
science is of God, and not of man. Now to sep- 
arate these two kingdoms is what I am trying to 
do; and, if I succeed in this, I shall accomplish 
what never has been done. ... I should never 
undertake the task of explaining what all the 
wise men have failed to do but for the want of 
some better proof to explain the phenomena that 
come under my own observation. . . . The reme- 
dies have never destroyed the cause, nor can the 
cause be destroyed by man's reason. . . . 

"The world of opinions is the old world: that 
of science is the new ; and a separation must take 
place, and a battle must be fought between them, 
. . . Now, the science of life and happiness is 
the one that has met with the most opposition, 
from the fact that it is death to all opposers. It 
never compromsies with its enemies, nor has it 
any dealings with them. ... Its habitation is in 
the hearts of men. It cannot be seen by the nat- 
ural man, for he is of matter; and the scientific 
man is not matter. All he has is his [spiritual] 
senses. There is his residence for the time. . . . 
It is almost impossible to tell one character from 
another, as both communicate through the same 
organs. As the scientific man has to prove his 



Quimby's Method of Healing 55 

wisdom through the same matter that the natural 
man uses, he is often misrepresented. . . . This 
was where Christ found so much trouble in his 
days, for the people could not tell who was speak- 
ing." 

Mr. Quimby described human life as a war- 
fare between the spiritual power in man and the 
opinions which relate and bind him to the nat- 
ural world. When he says, "My foundation is 
animal matter or life," he refers to the lower mind 
with its opinions. "This," he says, "set in action 
by Wisdom, produces thought. Thoughts, like 
grains of sand, are held together by their own 
sympathy, wisdom, or attraction." The natural 
man is composed of these groupings of ideas. 
"As thought is always changing, so man is always 
throwing off particles of thought and receiving 
others. Thus man is a progressive idea; yet he 
is the same man, although he is changing all the 
time for better or worse." That is, he changes in 
the direction of the world with its opinions or to- 
wards God in His wisdom. 

"Disease is the invention of man, and has no 
identity in Wisdom," that is, no place or pur- 
pose in the divine providence. It can be over- 
come because the mental life underlying it is of 
this lower mind which can be changed by the 
Wisdom which "decomposes the thoughts, 
changes the combinations, and produces an idea 



56 The New Thought Movement 

clear from the error that makes a person un- 
happy or diseased." ''Ideas have life. A belief 
has life . . . for it can be changed." Man is un- 
wittingly a "sufferer from his own belief. . . . 
Our belief cannot alter a scientific truth, but it 
may alter our feelings for happiness or misery. 
Disease is the misery of our belief, happiness is 
the health of our wisdom, so that man's happiness 
or misery depends on himself." The difficulty 
does not lie with sensation, for "sensation con- 
tains no intelligence, but is a mere disturbance 
which ... is ready to receive the error, that is, 
respond to an erroneous interpretation. . . . 
Ever since man was created, there has been an 
element called error which has been busy invent- 
ing answers for every sensation." 

Mr. George Quimby, in endeavoring to make 
clear this point of view, uses the following illus- 
tration: "Suppose a person should read an ac- 
count of a railroad accident, and see, in the list of 
killed, a son. The shock on the mind would 
cause a deep feeling of sorrow on the part of the 
parent, and possibly a severe sickness, not only 
mental but physical. Now, what is the condition 
of the patient? Does he imagine his trouble? 
Is his body not affected, his pulse quick ; and has 
he not all the symptoms of a sick person, and is 
he not really sick? Suppose you can go to him 
and say to him that you were on the train, and 



Quimby's Method of Healing 57 

saw his son alive and well after the accident, and 
prove to him that the report of his death was a 
mistake. What follows? Why, the patient's 
mind undergoes a change immediately; and he is 
no longer sick. It was on this principle that Mr. 
Quimby treated the sick. He claimed that 'mind 
was spiritual matter,' and could be changed; 
that we were made up of truth and error ;"that 
disease was an error, or belief, and that the 
Truth was the cure. And upon these promises 
he based all his reasoning, and laid the founda- 
tion of what he asserted to be the 'science of cur- 
ing the sick.' " * 

In one of his articles, written in 1861, Mr. 
Quimby thus describes his method of cure: "A 
patient comes to see Dr. Quimby. He renders 
himself absent to everything but the impression 
of the person's feelings. These are quickly 
daguerreotyped on him. They contain no intel- 
ligence, but shadow forth a reflection of them- 
selves which he looks at. This [mental picture] 
contains the disease as it appears to the patient. 
Being confident that it is the shadow of a false 
idea, he is not afraid of it. Then his feelings in 
regard to health and strength, are daguerreo- 
typed on the receptive plate of the patient. . . . 
The patient sees . . . the disease in a new light, 
gains confidence. This change is daguerreo- 

i The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 18. 



58 The New Thought Movement 

typed on the doctor again . . . and he sees the 
change and continues . . . the shadow changes 
and grows dim, and finally disappears, the light 
takes its place, and there is nothing left of the 
disease.'' 1 

A writer in the Jefersonian of Bangor, Maine, 
in 1857, thus expounds Quimby's view : "A gen- 
tleman of Belfast, Maine, Dr. Phineas P. 
Quimby, who was remarkably successful as an 
experimenter in mesmerism some sixteen years 
ago, and has continued his investigations in psy- 
chology, has discovered, and in his daily practice 
carries out, a new principle in the treatment of 
diseases. . . . His theory is that the mind gives 
immediate form to the animal spirits, and that the 
animal spirit gives form to the body, as soon as 
the less plastic elements of the body are able to 
assume that form. Therefore, his first course in 
the treatment of a patient is to sit down beside 
him, and put himself en rapport with him, which 
he does without producing the mesmeric sleep. 

"He says that in every disease the animal 
spirit, or spiritual form, is somewhat discon- 
nected from the body, and that, when he comes 
en rapport with a patient, he sees that spirit 
form standing beside the body, that it imparts 
to him all its grief and the cause of it, which may 
have been mental trouble or shock to the body, 

i Ibid, p. 51. 



Quimby's Method of Healing 59 

as over-fatigue, excessive cold or heat. This of 
course impresses the mind with anxiety, and the 
mind reacting upon the body produces dis- 
ease. . . . 

"Dr. Quimby says that there is no danger 
from disease when the mind is armed against it. 
That he will treat a person who has the most mal- 
ignant disorder without danger to himself, 
though his sympathy with the patient is so strong 
that he feels in his own person every symptom of 
the disease; but he dissipates from his mind the 
idea of it, and induces in its place an idea of 
health. 

"He says the mind ... is w T hat it thinks it is, 
and that, if it contends against the thought of 
disease, and creates for itself an ideal form of 
health, that form impresses itself upon the an- 
imal spirit, and through that upon the body, that 
his understanding is a positive power, and aids 
the spirit, which is not strong enough in itself to 
contend against the idea of diseases." 1 

For the term "animal spirit" as used by this 
writer one should substitute the unconscious, the 
spiritual substance or "spiritual matter" of Mr. 
Quimby's later teaching, together with his teach- 
ing that the individual gives off a mental atmos- 
phere as a rose gives off an odor by the discern- 
ment of which the healer can detect the patient's 

i Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 22. 



60 The New Thought Movement 

interior state; otherwise the above account gives 
an intelligible idea of the psychological aspect 
of the treatment. Mr. Quimby held that there is 
a spiritual body between the natural body and 
the human spirit. In this he agreed with seers 
of an earlier time, and pointed the way to the 
idea of the intimate correspondence between the 
spirit and the body. He did not teach that the 
spirit-forms of the departed occupy our bodies, 
or that disease in any of its forms is due to obses- 
sion. 

Another interested observer wrote as follows 
in an article in the Portland Advertiser, Feb- 
ruary, 1860: "In every age there have appeared 
individuals possessing the power of healing the 
sick and fore-telling events. Their theory or 
explanation veils this power in superstition and 
ignorance, so that the world is not enlightened in 
regard to where it comes from or how it ope- 
rates. We only know the effects. Spiritualists, 
mesmerists, and clairvoyants, making due allow- 
ance for imposition, in later times have proved 
that this power is still in existence. 

"Like this in the vague impression of its char- 
acter, but infinitely beyond any demonstrations 
of the same intelligence and skill, is the practice 
of a physician who has been among us . . . and 
to whose treatment some helpless invalids owe 
their recovered health. I refer to Dr. P. P. 



Quimby's Method of Healing 61 

Quimby. With no reputation except for hon- 
esty, which he carries in his face, he has estab- 
lished himself in our city, and his success merits 
public attention. Regarded by many as a harm- 
less humbug, by others as belonging to the genus 
mystery, he stands among his patients as a re- 
former, originating an entirely new theory in re- 
gard to disease, and practising it with a skill and 
ease which only come from knowledge and ex- 
perience. His success in reaching all kinds of 
diseases, from chronic cases of years' standing 
to acute diseases, shows that he must be prac- 
tising upon a principle different from what has 
ever been taught. 

"His position as an irregular practitioner has 
confined him principally to the patronage of the 
credulous and the desperate; and the most of his 
cases have been those which have not yielded to 
ordinary treatment. Those only who have been 
fortunate enough to receive benefit from him can 
have any appreciation of the interest which the 
originality of his ideas excites, and of the benefit, 
when understood, which they will be to society. 

"To attempt to describe his mode of treatment 
to the well would be like offering money to an 
already wealthy man; while the sick person who 
is like one cast into prison for an unjust debt, 
can tell the force of his system. With a sym- 
pathy which the sick alone call forth, and a 



62 The New Thought Movement 

knowledge which he proves alone to them, he 
leads an invalid along the path to health. His 
power over disease arises from his subtle knowl- 
edge of mind and its relation to the natural 
world, to which his attention was turned some 
twenty years ago by mesmerism. 

"His investigation in this region, hitherto un- 
satisfactorily explored, has developed in him a 
clairvoyant faculty, which he exercises with his 
reason and natural senses, and has yielded to him 
facts which he explains upon a principle ad- 
mitted, but little understood, educing therefrom 
a theory of universal application by which he 
cures disease." 1 

This account, coming from one who had noth- 
ing to gain or lose, shows how Mr. Quimby's 
work was regarded when he began to practise 
in Portland. His deep sympathy for suffering 
humanity was noted by all. His work appealed 
to those who would be called credulous or those 
who had been given up by other practitioners, 
because they had the receptivity or willingness 
to try this method when other methods had 
failed. He impressed upon all who were suffi- 
ciently interested to inquire into his views the 
fact that he endeavored to put his work on the 
basis of intelligible explanation. Hence he 
sought to clear away all sense of mystery and to 

i Ibid, p. 26. 



Quimby's Method of Healing 63 

show that there was nothing akin to mediumship 
in the silent treatment. His own exceptional 
power as a man was of course a factor in estab- 
lishing a cure. Everybody who knew him has 
borne testimony to this power. But Mr. 
Quimby always insisted that the works he 
wrought could be reproduced. In fact, he held 
that spiritual healing would some time take 
place in less time, and by "word of mouth," when 
the underlying principle should be understood. 

Still another writer, in an article in the Port- 
land Advertiser, 1862, signing herself "Ver- 
mont," gives first-hand impressions of Mr. 
Quimby's method : "Many people who have lost 
faith in the ancient school are at the same time 
startled by such reasoning as Dr. Quimby uses 
with regard to disease. It is so contrary to the 
commonly received opinions, they hardly dare 
believe there can be any truth in it. They hear 
of remarkable success in his practice, but are 
still more incredulous, and say, 'The age of mir- 
acles has passed away, and this is too much to 
believe.' But 'seeing is believing,' . . . and 
after having an opportunity to see some of the 
remarkable effects which Dr. Quimby has had 
upon obstinate cases of long-standing disease, 
they are compelled to yield, although it may be 
reluctantly, that there is living truth in his prin- 
ciples, that he has cast off the shackles of opinion 



64 The New Thought Movement 

which would narrowly enclose the limits of in- 
vestigation, and, studying the mysterious work- 
ings of the mind, discovered there the true ex- 
planation of that which has so long been mis- 
understood and unsatisfactorily accounted for. 
They came to him suspicious, almost unwilling 
to believe what they saw, ignorant of his theory, 
which, even after it was explained, they found 
difficult to understand, and therefore had to go 
through with this process of gradual conviction 
before they would receive its truths. So it may 
be said that he has to contend with those who 
would be his friends as well as his enemies. . . . 

"According to this new theory, disease is the 
invention of man. It is caused by a disturbance 
of the mind . . . and therefore originates there. 
We can call to mind instances where disease has 
been produced instantly by excitement, anger, 
fear, or joy. Is it not the more rational con- 
clusion that disease is always caused by influences 
upon the mind rather than that it has an identity, 
comes to us, and attacks us? 

"Living in a world full of error in this respect, 
and educated to believe that disease is something 
we cannot escape, it is not strange that what we 
fear comes upon us. We take the opinions of 
men, which have no knowledge in them, for truth. 
So we all agree to arbitrary rules with regard 
to our mode of life, and suffer the penalties at- 



Quimby's Method or Healing 65 

tached to any disobedience of the same. These 
diseases or penalties are real to us through the 
result of belief. 

"It is reasonable to infer from these state- 
ments that the only way to approach and eradi- 
cate disease must be through the mind, to trace 
the cause of this misery, and hold up to it the 
light of reason or disbelief in the existence of 
disease independent of the mind. Then the 
cloud which shadows us vanishes, as error always 
will when over-powered by the light of truth. 

"Dr. Quimby proves the truth of his belief 
by his daily works. The marvellous cures he is 
effecting are undeniable evidences of his superior 
knowledge and skill in applying it for the bene- 
fit of suffering humanity. He does not use 
medicine or any material agency, nor call to his 
aid mesmerism or any spiritual [spiritistic] in- 
fluence whatever, but works on scientific prin- 
ciples, the philosophy of which may be under- 
stood by the patient. . . . 

"Accepting this new theory, man rises supe- 
rior to circumstances. Easily adapting himself 
to any necessity, free from all fear of disease, he 
lives a more simple, natural, and happy life. He 
is enabled to control the body, and make it sub- 
servient to his will instead of his being a slave 
completely at its mercy, which he will be if he al- 
lows that it is subject to disease. This truth is 



66 The New Thought Movement 

capable of extensive application in all the ex- 
igencies of life, and we learn to make constant 
use of it as we advance in knowledge. It helps 
us to place a just estimate upon everything, the 
value of life is enhanced; and, as we have more 
of this true knowledge in ourselves, we shall 
love and worship God, who is the source of all 
wisdom, more sincerely and intelligently." x 

When we note that the writer of this clear 
statement of the possibilities of wider and wider 
application of Mr. Quimby's teaching went to 
Quimby as a patient suffering from a disease of 
long-standing and in every way a devotee of the 
older way of thinking about life and disease, we 
realize how great was the change sometimes 
wrought by his treatment and the conversations 
which followed. Here we have an indication at 
least of the spiritual effect produced by the 
change. We have a different attitude toward 
life, one that looks forward affirmatively to suc- 
cess. We note that the new teaching applies 
not only to disease but looks beyond this to 
triumph over circumstances in general, in favor 
of a simpler, happier mode of life. It also gives 
a religious outlook, and in a very practical way 
directs attention to God as the immanent source 
of all wisdom. 

Speaking in general of those whom one has 

i Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 29. 



Quimby's Method of Healing 67 

known well enough to see how radical was the 
change wrought under Mr. Quimby's treatment 
and instruction, it may be said that his greatest 
power came from the quickening sense of the 
divine love and wisdom which he carried in his 
presence. His method of sitting silently by the 
sick to learn the real state of the inner life as 
spiritual light should disclose it, enabled him to 
make the presence of God more vivid than it is 
ordinarily made by prayer and public worship. 
He was prompted by earnest desire to do good. 
His patients came to him in need, often in great 
distress of mind and body, sometimes at the 
point of death. He was aroused by this need 
and this desire to do his utmost, and was able 
fully to give himself to his work. His power 
increased with the years. His courage and faith 
strengthened him to persist in the new mode of 
healing despite the fact that he was alone and 
subject to adverse criticism on every hand. Un- 
der these circumstances it was natural that the 
spiritual consciousness which his presence in- 
spired should be the really great result of his 
work. 

Looking back over the years in the light of the 
good that has come from this work, we see plainly 
that sufficient power was with him to win this 
triumph and make this deep impression. The 
value of his work was on the side of power, in 



68 The New Thought Movement 

the impetus which he gave, an impetus sufficient 
to quicken those who were to transmit his ideas 
and methods, and apply them in their own way. 
This sense of power came from the fact that as 
a pioneer he found the great sources for himself 
and spoke from experience. What he com- 
municated was life. His "theory," as he called 
it, was secondary to this. He did not impose his 
theory upon others or try to give it the authority 
of a "revelation." All those who have written 
about this theory in the papers have put their 
own construction on it to some extent. The 
early authors and teachers developed his views 
in their own way. But behind the various ver- 
sions of his teaching was the strong evidence of 
his power and of his works. No one ventured 
to heal as he did while he continued in practice, 
for no one had the confidence in view of his re- 
markable cures. The spiritual impetus, how- 
ever, had been given, and in the course of time 
the results were seen. 

When we look back over history we find that 
something like this has always been the result. 
The spiritual pioneer, sage or prophet, has ac- 
complished the work, conveyed the impetus. 
Followers have appeared who gathered about 
the new leader, observed his work, acquired his 
ideas. Then after his death the spreading of 
his ideas variously stated and interpreted has 



Quimby's Method of Healing 69 

begun. Some of the followers have been very 
loyal. Others have taken credit to themselves. 
There have been disputes, and eventually a scat- 
tering of forces or a division into sects has come 
about. The moral always has been: return to 
the sources, see what the original impetus was, 
put yourself in line with it and test it for your- 
self; pay little attention to the later effete re- 
statements or the controversies, but try to grasp 
the spiritual truth and put this in relation with 
other truths. 

The further inference in the case of Mr. 
Quimby would be: return to the Bible to see if it 
be true that it contains an inner or spiritual 
meaning, to see if indeed there be a neglected 
science of the Christ in the New Testament, 
implying principles of universal application 
through spiritual healing. If so, this inner or 
spiritual truth may be the great truth of the 
new age, it may imply the second coming of the 
Lord in deepest reality. If so, let us look back 
of the superficial theories of merely mental heal- 
ers to find touch anew with the original spirit- 
ual impetus. It need not concern us that so 
many have tried their hands at the spiritual in- 
terpretation of the Bible that there is a mere 
confusion of tongues. In the Bible itself there 
undoubtedly is a science of spiritual things which 
all might understand alike. Mr. Quimby had 



70 The New Thought Movement 

at least the vision of it. His practice with the 
sick was in some measure at least a rediscovery 
of the original therapeutic gospel. Its applica- 
tion to healing is a part only of the science which 
came to give men fulness of life. But healing 
had been the neglected part of the gospel. It 
was necessary that some one should arise to 
specialize upon this. Such in brief was the work 
given Mr. Quimby to do. This was the work 
he accomplished with such impressive success. 



IV 

THE FIRST AUTHOR 

In 1863, Mr. Quimby received as a patient 
one who was to accomplish a very important 
work in the promulgation of the new theory and 
practice of healing. This was Rev. Warren 
Felt Evans, of Claremont, New Hampshire. 
Mr. Evans had been in poor health for several 
years, having suffered from a nervous break- 
down coupled with a chronic disorder that had 
failed to respond to the methods of treatment 
then in vogue. Having heard of Mr. Quimby's 
remarkable cures, he visited Portland on two oc- 
casions to receive treatment by the new method. 
His expectations were more than realized. Mr. 
Evans was not only healed of his maladies, but 
became so deeply impressed by the practice and 
teachings of the new therapeutist that he studied 
the new method and later began to apply it, hav- 
ing first developed the implied philosophy in his 
own terms. The turning-point came one day 
while in conversation with Mr. Quimby. Mr. 
Evans remarked that he believed he could cure 
by the same method and Mr. Quimby encour- 
aged him to think that he could. Accordingly, 

71 



72 The New Thought Movement 

Mr. Evans made the venture as soon as oppor- 
tunity offered, after his return home, and the 
first attempts were so "successful that the way 
opened for him to devote the remainder of his 
life to authorship and the healing of the sick. 

Mr. Evans, who was born in 1817 and died 
in 1889, was by profession a clergyman until this 
great change came into his life. He belonged 
to the New Church, and he appears to have been 
an average exponent of Swedenborg's teachings, 
so far as one may judge by his writings, for ex- 
ample, The New Age and its Messenger, 1864, 
published after he visited Mr. Quimby, but 
surely written before, since it gives no evidence 
of any change of view. Mr. Evans was also well 
acquainted with philosophical idealism. He pos- 
sessed the ability to grasp fundamental princi- 
ples and think them out for himself. He had 
all the essentials, so far as spiritual principles 
were concerned; for the devotee of Swedenborg 
has a direct clue to the application of spiritual 
philosophy to life. What Mr. Evans lacked was 
the new impetus, to put two and two together. 
He lacked the method by which to apply his 
idealism and his theology to health. Mr. 
Quimby gave him this impetus. He possessed 
the method. Mr. Evans with ready perception 
saw the connection and was quick in his discern- 
ment of the values of the new practice. 



The First Author 73 

Mr. Evans had given little evidence of orig- 
inality in his earlier writings, since his chief in- 
terest was to spread knowledge of Swedenborg's 
doctrines. But in his first book on spiritual heal- 
ing, or "mental science," as he sometimes called 
it, he branched out in a freer style of thought 
and undertook to win attention for the new views 
without at first indicating their origin. In his 
second book, however, Mental Medicine, Bos- 
ton, 1872, he ventures to use the phraseology he 
had acquired from Mr. Quimby and to mention 
the pioneer therapeutist by name. He says: 

"Disease being in its root a wrong belief, 
change that belief and we cure the disease. By 
faith we are thus made whole. There is a law 
here the world will sometime understand and use 
in the cure of the diseases that afflict mankind. 
The late Dr. Quimby, one of the most success- 
ful healers of this or any age, embraced this 
view of the nature of disease, and by a long suc- 
cession of most remarkable cures proved the 
truth of the theory and the efficiency of that 
mode of treatment. Had he lived in a remote 
age or country, the wonderful facts which oc- 
curred in his practice would have been deemed 
either mythical or miraculous. He seemed to 
reproduce the wonders of the Gospel history." 

Rev. W. J. Leonard, in The Pioneer Apostle 
of Mental Science, Boston, 1903, says that one 



74 The New Thought Movement 

who knew Mr. Evans intimately "reiterates this 
sentiment in a letter to the writer ... in the 
following words : 'In his estimation, Dr. Quimby 
was the highest authority in the science of heal- 
ing, and a man of noble character and purest 
aims, which Dr. Evans believed were indispens- 
ably necessary to bring one into the perfect peace 
and the harmony with the Divine Life required 
to teach or heal the sick and suffering with suc- 
cess.' Not only was Dr. Evans fair enough to 
honor his master in the science, but, with the 
humility and modesty of the truly great soul, 
he made no attempt to claim that the truths he 
presented were absolutely new." 

It is interesting also to read the testimony of 
one who knew both Mr. Quimby and Mr. Evans, 
who followed the latter's work with great inter- 
est, doing what was possible to make his books 
known in the world. In The True History of 
Mental Science, Mr. Julius A. Dresser says: 
"Dr. Evans obtained this knowledge of Quimby 
mainly when he visited him as a patient, mak- 
ing two visits for that purpose about the year 
1863, an interesting account of which I received 
from him at East Salisbury in the year 1876. 
Dr. Evans had been a clergyman up to the year 
1863, and was then located in Claremont, N. H. 
But so readily did he understand the explana- 
tions of Quimby, which his Swedenborgian faith 



The First Author 75 

enabled him to grasp the more quickly, that he 
told Quimby at the second interview that he 
thought he could himself cure in this way." 

Mr. Evans's first book, The Mental Cure, Bos- 
ton, 1869, is important for our purposes for sev- 
eral reasons. It was the first volume issued in 
our country on this subject. It was soon widely 
read in this country and Europe, where it was 
translated into several languages. It gave ex- 
tensive publicity to the new ideas for the first 
time. It contains something like a demonstra- 
tion of the truth of the principles for which it 
pleads, that is, by reference to facts and sound 
inferences based on facts; and it is still superior 
for this reason to most of the New Thought 
literature of today. More significant still, per- 
haps, from a historical point of view, is the evi- 
dence it gives of a transitional point of view. 
For while the author branches out freely and 
expounds Swedenborg's views in his own fashion, 
he is still largely dependent on the teachings of 
the Swedish seer and his interpretation is more 
sound. In Mental Medicine, 1872, and Soul 
and Body, 1875, all published before Science and 
Health, by Mrs. Eddy, Evans develops the same 
views in a supplementary way. But in the 
volume ordinarily referred to as his best book 
and the one which had most to do with giving 
shape to the New Thought, The Divine Law of 



76 The New Thought Movement 

Cure, 1881, Mr. Evans shows that he has been 
reading the philosophical idealists, and that he 
has changed his views to some extent, as we shall 
presently see. 

Turning to The Mental Cure, we find him 
making liberal use of the teachings of Sweden- 
borg concerning the influx of the divine life 
into the human soul, the theory of the relation- 
ship of mind and body, the correspondence of 
all things natural with all things spiritual, and 
the conception of causality as essentially spirit- 
ual. He does not draw upon the theological doc- 
trines so much as on those which may be called 
in general spiritual. Adopting Swedenborg's 
psychology, he endeavors to verify this in his own 
way, and to substantiate his argument for spirit- 
ual healing by appeal to well-known physical 
facts and the principles of physiology. 

We may summarize Mr. Evans's theory as 
put forth in this volume as follows: The start- 
ing-point of all reason is with the idea of God, 
regarded as the source of all life in the universe 
and in the soul of man. The true science or 
philosophy would give us a complete view of 
things in the light of their causes, their relation- 
ship to and dependence on God. Man, created a 
form recipient of the divine life, is in inmost 
essence divine, and this divinity within him 
remains untainted whatever the vicissitudes 



The First Author 77 

through which man passes. In short, there is 
an inextinguishable divine spark which may be 
fanned into flame, despite all appearances to the 
contrary. 

In actuality, however, man is very far from 
recognition of this his divine birthright and in- 
terrior privilege. There is a blinded or disor- 
dered activity of the mind in its outward form. 
There is an antagonism between the inmost es- 
sence and the selfhood of man as commonly re- 
garded. Hence the mental and physical unhap- 
piness and misery through which man passes. 
Hence the need of distinguishing between hu- 
man nature as it was designed to be, as it ever is 
in the ideal sense of the word ; and human nature 
in a state of moral, intellectual and physical dis- 
order. 

Very much depends, therefore, upon our 
knowledge of and insight into the human self 
in relation to God. The starting-point, always 
should be with the inner man, the spirit or soul. 
The life of the soul is received by influx from 
God, the source of all our life. All men are in- 
carnations of the divine. "In all men the Divin- 
ity becomes finitely human." The soul receives 
its form from the divine spirit within. It is in 
the human form, yet the significance of this form 
is that it is made in the image and likeness of 
God. The mind is not then formless and un- 



78 The New Thought Movement 

substantial, as we sometimes say in our ignor- 
ance; but it consists of real substance, that is, 
spiritual substance, and is definitely formed ac- 
cording to the divine ideal. ISTor is the mind con- 
fined to the brain, or limited in form by the 
brain's substance and activity. The mind per- 
vades and is interfused throughout the body, and 
is coextensive with the physical organism. It 
thrills in every nerve and pervades every fibre. 
In brief, the body corresponds or answers to 
the spirit, and changes brought about in the 
spirit manifest themselves in the bodily organ- 
ism ; since mind or spirit is a higher, diviner force 
"approaching many degrees nearer the Central 
Life." We also see how this intimate relation- 
ship between soul and body is possible when we 
remember that matter with all its properties is 
merely a modification of force, and that all caus- 
ality operating in physical force is spiritual in 
the last analysis. 

Within the spirit itself there are orders and 
degrees. The spiritual degree, that is, our in- 
most nature, may and ought to control the na- 
tural degree, hence the animal instincts, the 
bodily activities which foster man's best estate. 
The spirit is endowed with both will and under- 
standing. The understanding is recipient of the 
divine wisdom, the will receives the divine love. 
Thus love in us is central, fundamental. Love 



The First Author 79 

is our very life. When we act from love we act 
from the divine life in us. Love in this the 
higher or interior sense of the word is the "mov- 
ing force of soul and body," the "hidden spring 
that moves life's machinery." The divine love 
within us may become "our fountain of health." 
If there is harmony between the will and the un- 
derstanding, unity in the inner life, there is spirit- 
ual health, and if spiritual health then bodily 
health. Disease, in essence mental, not physical, 
is due to loss of balance between the understand- 
ing and the will, between the intellectual and af- 
fectional departments of our nature. In say- 
ing all this, Mr. Evans is adapting Sweden- 
borg's psychology so as to find sure place for 
the truths concerning disease and its cure which 
he has learned from Mr. Quimby. 

Tracing out the discord between the will and 
the understanding which underlies disease, Mr. 
Evans further says that disease arises from some 
false idea which has become too prominent, some 
feeling that is inordinate or uppermost in such 
a way that conflict results and the body responds. 
To restore the balance is to cure the soul, hence 
the body. As every mental condition records 
itself in the body, when the state of mind is 
changed the bodily correspondence manifests it. 
In developing this view of the relationship of the 
soul to the body, Mr. Evans makes use of Swed- 



80 The New Thought Movement 

enborg's teaching in regard to the spiritual body, 
which he interprets as the "seat of all sensation," 
agreeing with Quimby that the physical body in 
itself is destitute of feeling and intelligence. 

Otherwise stated, sensation belongs, not to the 
bodily organs in which we seem to feel it, but 
to our "inner nature." The "inner form is the 
prior seat of all diseased disturbance in the 
body." Disease so-called is only an outward or 
visible effect of the inner disturbance. The 
symptoms are not the disease. The body is in- 
capable of generating a disease by itself. Nor 
is disease an entity or force that seizes us from 
without. We cannot interpret the bodily condi- 
tion correctly unless we see in it an outward ex- 
pression of the inner state to which it corre- 
sponds. 

Mr. Evans finds expression for Quimby's 
teaching that every one gives off a "mental at- 
mosphere" which discloses the inner condition 
by adopting Swedenborg's view of "spiritual 
spheres." "This doctrine of spiritual spheres," 
he says, "is of great importance in mental 
philosophy, but has been almost wholly ignored. 
In the system of Swedenborg it has been given 
that prominence that belongs to it. Every 
angel, every spirit, every man, is surrounded by 
a spiritual sphere of affection and thought, or 
radiant circles of an emanating force, within 



The First Author 81 

which he imparts — often silently and uninten- 
tionally — his own feelings and ideas. . . . There 
are persons who exert a secret but powerful in- 
fluence over those who come in contact with the 
sphere of their inner nature. This influence is 
good or bad, happy or depressing, elevating or 
degrading, according to the confirmed affectional 
state or ruling love of him from whom it pro- 
ceeds. For it is to be borne in mind, that it goes 
forth primarily from the love which constitutes 
the soul life. If the mental state be joy or mel- 
ancholy, gladness or sorrow, contentment or im- 
patience, faith or fear, it affects others with a 
like feeling, in a degree proportioned to their im- 
pressibility. In this way the mind propagates 
its own prevailing condition, and all our mental 
states are contagious." 1 

This is an intelligible statement of a point 
essential to Quimby's theory. If we were to 
take Quimby's statement that "disease is an error 
of mind" literally, it would doubtless seem ab- 
surd; for obviously we have not consciously 
thought ourselves into disease. But in Quimby's 
view we are unaware of the effect of our beliefs 
because ignorant of our whole deeper nature, 
that is, our impressibility, the growth of ideas 
within our minds, the influence of the mind on 
the body through the intermediate substance, the 

iP. 70. 



82 The New Thought Movement 

* 

subtle influence of one mind on another through 
mental atmospheres, the power of the spirit to 
see through and master disturbing mental states 
by realizing the greater reality of man's true na- 
ture. If the later devotees of mental healing 
had taken account of all the factors noted by 
Quimby and explained so clearly by Evans in 
this his first statement of it, they would have in- 
quired into the nature of spiritual influx and cor- 
respondence and would have adopted an es- 
sentially spiritual view of the whole field. In- 
stead of a new "thought," instead of almost ex- 
clusive emphasis on suggestion or affirmation, we 
might have had a new spiritual philosophy em- 
bracing the larger truth of the new age. 

Mr. Evans develops the idea of a spiritual 
cure by pointing out that as disease of body is 
caused by disordered and morbid states of the 
spiritual life, so by inducing the opposite states 
disease can be overcome. What is needed in 
the first place is the power, such as Quimby 
possessed, "intuitively to detect the morbid state 
of the mind underlying the disease," and to see 
how to "convert the patient to a more healthful 
inner life." All disease in origin is an insanity. 
Its cure is the attainment of sanity. The prob- 
lem is to know how to induce any desired mental 
state. Mr. Evans does not claim that this can 
be done by the human self alone. He does not 



,The First Author 83 

put the emphasis on finite thought, or what 
would now be called "suggestion." The true 
order of life, he assures us, is that in which our 
hearts are open to "receive the influx of the 
divine and heavenly life," with a desire "to im- 
part the good, with which we are blessed, to all 
who are willing to receive it. Such ... is the 
normal state of every soul. It is evident we can 
never attain to the highest well-being of either 
soul or body, until we come into the divine order 
of our existence, and employ the activity with 
which we are endowed, according to the laws of 
the celestial life." * 

The central difficulty with us is that the divine 
impulse within us is "perverted in its action, 
our love terminates in self, and we become the 
centre of our universe." Selfishness then is the 
primary trouble, "the fruitful root of more 
moral and physical evil and unhappiness, than 
any other cause. . . . Disease is only a state of 
supreme selfishness." Even insanity, especially 
in the form of melancholia, is selfishness in its 
origin. Sexual emotion is another cause. In 
such emotion, when perverted, is the "root of 
more diseases of body and mind than can be 
traced to any other source. The sexual and con- 
jugal love is most intimately connected with the 
inmost life of the spirit, and is the fountain of 

iP. 216. 



84 The New Thought Movement 

more unhappiness or misery than originates with 
any other affection, according as it is properly 
controlled, or left to a disorderly activity and in- 
dulgence." x 

In thus tracing matters to their fountain- 
source, taking his clue from Swedenborg, Mr. 
Evans anticipates Freud and his school by more 
than a generation. Freud has traced many if 
not most nervous disorders to repressions of the 
love-nature. Hence he places fundamental em- 
phasis on the sexual instinct. But his view is 
purely psychological. It is developed out of 
the cruder facts of the inner life, arrived at 
through the interpretation of dreams. Mr. 
Evans gives us the whole context of the love- 
nature and shows its high origin on the spiritual 
side. From his point of view there could be no 
merely mental cure. The true cure would be, 
as Quimby had shown, in the discovery of our 
real inner nature as recipient of the divine life. 

The theory of an essentially spiritual cure 
starts with the principle that there is but one 
source of life, that life emanates from this one 
living centre, from God, and is communicated to 
all, is communicable to others through us. The 
remedy for all our ills is at hand. "Make the 
heart of something outside your own being to 
leap for joy. Attune your soul in harmony 

IP. 214. 



The First Author 85 

with the Divine Life. Live to love, and then 
you will delight to live ; and health will glow and 
thrill in every organic structure. Find some 
one whose condition is unhappily like your own. 
Lift up your hand and your heart, and pull down 
a blessing upon his head. . . . Be, like Jesus, 
every one's friend. Seek to make everybody 
and everything happy . . . Get well by curing 
others. Impart life, communicate from your 
own stock of vital force to others, and life from 
God. 

Faith is an important element in the cure. It 
is a "spiritual force that has accomplished won- 
ders ... an actual psychological or spiritual 
force. To believe that we can do a thing, 
especially if that faith is the result of an under- 
standing of nature's laws, empowers us to do it. 
To believe that we are well, or that we are going 
to become so, excites a spiritual force within us 
that goes far towards making us so. . . . The 
lack of faith is the loss of one of the essential 
elements of a sound mental state, which under- 
lies, as a foundation, a healthy bodily condition. 
In the . . . healer it is a positive mental force, 
in the patient a receptive mental state." 2 Fear 
is its opposite, and produces equally striking 
effects in the generation of diseased conditions 

i Pp. 219, 220. 
2 Pp. 242, 243. 



86 The New Thought Movement 

of the body. The healer should induce the spirit- 
ual state which drives out fear, should establish 
as a permanent possession the state which is the 
opposite of that causing the disease. The great- 
est motive power in this inducing of the desirable 
spiritual state is love, which sets the spiritual 
forces within us in operation. "Just as far as 
any one receives into himself the pure unselfish 
love of God — a love that in him is an irrepres- 
sible desire to communicate good — so far there 
is in him a power to impart life and health and 
peace to others." * 

Agreeing with Quimby, Mr. Evans finds the 
same method taught in the New Testament. 
"When," he says, "we assert that life is com- 
municable ... we occupy undisputed ground. 
It was in harmony with this recognized law of 
our being that Jesus cured diseased humanity. 
He laid down his life for men — an expression 
that has no reference to his death . . . Jesus 
healed . . . first the mind, then the body. He 
removed the spiritual cause of disease, and the 
physical effect ceased. He carried his sanative 
influence into both departments of our being, the 
inner and the outer. This was done by the law 
of sympathy — a law of the mind that means more 
than the world has ever understood. By it one 
mind transmits its states of feeling and modes 

iP. 966. 



The First Author 87 

of thought to another. . . . Jesus thus imparted 
to the sick and wretched the calm happiness of 
his own loving and gentle heart. ... In this 
way Christ carried his healing power into the 
realm of spiritual causes. He addressed him- 
self as a spirit to the spirit of the patient." * 

Here we have the heart of the spiritual method 
as developed by Mr. Quimby. To address one- 
self as a spirit to another spirit is far more than 
merely to transfer thought or feeling to another. 
The element of feeling is a factor. Hence the 
strong emphasis which Mr. Evans puts upon 
sympathy. The intellectual element is also a 
factor, and Mr. Evans shows that there is a 
"sanative power in words," for example, in the 
affirmation, "I am strong," in such statements 
as, "Go in peace; Be of good cheer, thy sins are 
forgiven thee; Be it unto thee according to thy 
faith." Here we find the factor which the New- 
Thought people have made so much of since the 
days of writers like Henry Wood. But Evans 
always shows the superiority of the love-element, 
the divine influx into the heart. The right 
directing of the will seems to him more impor- 
tant than the use of such an affirmation as "I am 
strong." For he sees clearly that the disease 
springs from the inner life in general, not from 
mere belief ; hence the cure must touch the whole 

iPp. 239, 256, 268. 



88 The New Thought Movement 

spirit. To address oneself as a spirit to the 
spirit of the patient is indeed to rise to our high- 
est privilege as a human being. 

In the preface to his Divine Law of Cure, 
1881, Mr. Evans gives the clue to this his best 
known book as follows: "Idealism, which has 
always had strong hold upon the deepest think- 
ers of the world from Plato downward, is again 
coming into prominence . . . The system of 
Berkeley is undergoing a resurrection, and, in 
connection with . the spiritual philosophy of 
Swedenborg, will have more influence than ever 
in shaping the metaphysical systems of the fu- 
ture, and in giving direction to the current of 
human thought. The present volume of the au- 
thor is an attempt to construct a theoretical and 
practical system of phrenopathy, or mental- 
cure, on the basis of the idealistic philosophy of 
Berkeley, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Its 
fundamental doctrine is that to think and to ex- 
ist are one and the same, and that every disease 
is the translation into a bodily expression of a 
fixed idea of the mind and a morbid way of think- 
ing. If by any therapeutic device you remove 
the morbid idea, which is the spiritual image 
after the likeness of which the body is formed, 
you cure the malady. The work lays no claim 
to originality except in the practical application 
of idealism to the cure of the diseases of mind 



The First Author 89 

and body. It is the culmination of a life-long 
study of human nature, and to which the previous 
volumes of the author may be viewed as intro- 
ductory." * 

Mr. Evans plainly believed that this was his 
chief book. Whatever opinion we may hold con- 
cerning the change from his first book to this 
one, we must chronicle the fact that it was this 
applied idealism with its proposition that "to 
think and exist are one and the same" which has 
had great influence in the mental-healing move- 
ment. We here find Mr. Evans saying less 
about the larger view of man's spiritual nature, 
with its emphasis on will and the prevailing love 
or affection, and employing the terms which his 
later studies in idealism led him to adopt. Prob- 
ably he did not intend to give up the spiritual 
in favor of the intellectual view. His practical 
method was surely as effective as before. By 
implication the term "thought" as he now uses 
it is as rich as the former terms, and when he 
now uses the term "mind" we may doubt whether 
he has given up the idea of the spirit which was 
central in the teaching of his first book. But 
unluckily everybody is influenced by language, 
and, unless we are extremely explicit, people fail 
to see that we mean something "spiritual" when 
we use psychological terms. Hence we note 

iP. 9. 



90 The New Thought Movement 

that the terminology of this book has sometimes 
been more influential than its spirit. This is an 
important point for our history. 

Neglecting his former emphasis on the human 
spirit as recipient of power and life from the 
spiritual world, Mr. Evans now says, "Mind is 
the only active power in the universe . . . Mind 
is the only causal agent in the realm of matter, 
and certainly in the human body . . . As the 
body is the creation of the mind, and is always 
its ultimation or outward expression, a chronic 
disease is the fixedness of a thought, the petri- 
faction of a morbid idea. Thoughts or ideas 
are the most real things in the universe. They 
are the interior soul of things, and the underlying 
reality of all outward and visible objects . . . 
The mind is the real man, and its thoughts act 
on the body as a spiritual poison, or as a mental 
medicine, for health and disease, in their spirit- 
ual essence, may be resolved into modes of think- 
ing. A man is well so long as he thinks, feels, 
and believes himself so, for to be sick and not 
know it is all the same as not to be sick." * 

This is meant to be a profound doctrine, not 
the superficial one which it sometimes led to on 
the part of devotees of mental healing not so 
well-read as Mr. Evans was in the literature of 
idealism. When he says that "thought is a 

i Pp. 203, 204. 



The First Author 91 

creative power," he does not intend to take any- 
thing from the thought of God as Creator, he 
is not exalting the finite ego. He has in mind 
what he elsewhere in this book calls the "precon- 
scious," the term which he prefers to the "un- 
conscious." By this he means "intelligent men- 
tal action beyond the range of the external con- 
sciousness," our latent thought and intelligence. 1 
He speaks of thought as the "grand character- 
istic of man," as belonging to the essence of the 
soul. He does not neglect what he has pre- 
viously written about love as "the life of man," 
as Swedenborg affirms; but is more inclined to 
emphasize thought as "the existence or outward 
manifestation, of that vital element or prin- 
ciple." He regards the quality of the life of 
love as dependent on the character of man's 
thoughts. He interprets the self-determining 
power which we call free will to be "thought" in 
its essence. 2 Hence everything depends for him 
upon man's power to turn his thoughts into an- 
other direction. Here Mr. Evans approaches 
the more recent psychological emphasis on at- 
tention as the determining factor in our mental 
life. 

Having restated the entire theory of the 
origin and nature of disease with the term 

iP. 179. 
2 P. 253. 



O-' 



92 The New Thought Movement 

"thought" as central, Mr. Evans proceeds to a 
restatement of the mental cure. He bases his 
proposition that there is a "healing power of 
thought" on "the Hegelian principle that 
thought is a creative force." It is a "funda- 
mental idea of Hegel's philosophy," he tells us, 
"that everything in its last analysis, or when we 
come to its inmost reality, is only a thought. 
What we call the external world and the human 
body, which is a part of it, are the thought of 
God, and we come to know them only so far as 
we think of them. They are revealed to us by 
the same power that creates them. Disease, like 
every other thing, is created, or, at least has an 
existence only by thought. In the phrenopathic 
method of cure, it is a fundamental principle that 
thought is the ground of all reality." * 

One might neglect the bodily conditions of 
disease and almost come to believe that nothing 
exists save when we are thinking about it, if one 
were to take too seriously Evans' statement that 
a "thing, a world, a disease, comes into our con- 
sciousness only when we think of it." He seems 
to forget for the moment that our thinking about 
it has nothing to do with the existence of the 
world, that our consciousness is for the most part 
involuntary, and that nothing ceases to exist 
when we cease to think about it. If to "bring 

iP. 258. 



The First Author 93 

disease into the realm of unconsciousness" be 
all that we need do to make it "unreal," it would 
indeed be a simple matter to banish all disease 
from the world. 

Mr. Evans had offered a really fundamental 
view of disease in his first book, by tracing it to 
selfishness and showing that its cure means spirit- 
ual regeneration. He does not now speak of 
healing as the operation of one spirit on another 
by drawing upon the inflowing life from the 
spiritual world. He still puts the emphasis on 
the divine mind, and by this he means the Spirit 
in all its fulness. But he speaks of the mind 
of the patient as a "clean slate on which our 
thoughts may be written," and says that what 
"we imagine, and believe, and think, will be 
transferred" to the patient; and so he tends to 
give prominence to the intellectual factors of the 
silent treatment. 1 It would be easy for the su- 
perficial reader to seize upon "thought" as the 
dominant factor and overlook the spiritual mean- 
ings which Mr. Evans had previously given to 
the term. 

In this volume as in his earlier books, Mr. 
Evans frequently quotes from Swedenborg, at- 
tributing to him the doctrine that "man is so 
made that he can apply life to himself from the 
Lord." He says that Swedenborg viewed the 

iP. 279. 



94 The New Thought Movement 

external world as the ultimation of the spiritual 
universe. He also makes use of Swedenborg's 
teaching in regard to spiritual influx and corre- 
spondence. But when he couples the name of 
Swedenborg with idealism, as he understands it, 
and says that "all time and space, as Kant and 
Swedenborg affirm, are in ourselves — that is, 
within the enclosure of our spiritual being"; 
when he attributes our experience of space to 
"the space-creating power of the soul," * Evans 
is reading subjective idealism into Swedenborg 
and throwing his readers upon the wrong track. 
He declares that "all the objects of nature are 
phenomena or appearances, as Hegel, Fichte, 
Berkeley, Swedenborg, and all the idealists af- 
firm." 2 He has been reading the idealists so 
much of late that he forgets his Swedenborg, who 
surely never taught that "all outward things 
are but the exteriorization of ideas." 3 Nor did 
Swedenborg teach that "thought is the primal 
force and the greatest power in the world." He 
did not identify existence with thought, but 
characterized God as the "divine love and the 
divine wisdom," teaching that there are two pow- 
ers in man recipient of these, the will and the 
understanding (the intellect). As thus re- 

i Pp. 107, 147. 

2 P. 152. 

3 285. 



The First Author 95 

cipient of life from God, man is primarily a 
spirit, spirit is substantial, and the body corre- 
sponds to the spirit. Swedenborg was not, prop- 
erly speaking, an idealist, if by the term "ideal- 
ism" we have in mind the idealism of Fichte and 
Hegel. Swedenborg's works lead the reader 
into the objectivism of our true relationship in 
the spiritual world. They put the emphasis on 
love, hence on conduct, and avoid over-emphasis 
on human thought. 

The distinction is important. For if, taking 
seriously Evans's declaration that to think and 
exist are one and the same, we follow his theory 
of disease and its cure, we are likely to acquire a 
psychology without a body, we are apt to think 
too lightly of the natural world and to make the 
road to salvation appear easier than it is. To 
see that for the time being Evans is interested 
in the theoretical and on the whole impractical 
idealism of Fichte, is to realize that he is tem- 
porarily neglecting the spiritual philosophy of 
Swedenborg with the clue to Quimby's teaching 
it gave him in the early years. There was 
really no reason to "attempt to construct a 
theoretical and practical system of phrenopathy, 
or mental-cure, on the basis of the idealistic 
philosophy." Mr. Evans already possessed a 
better philosophy. He did not improve either 
his terminology or his practical method by the 



96 The New Thought Movement 

change. What he did do was to mark out the 
way of thinking which devotees of mental healing 
in the mental-science period followed by em- 
phasizing thought as "creative," as the greatest 
force in the world. The universe became less 
substantial for the mental healer as a result. 
The mental doctrine became the popular one. 
The profounder view of the spiritual life of Mr. 
Evans's first book was for the most part neg- 
lected. Readers of Mrs. Eddy's Science and 
Health found a somewhat similar interpretation 
of the idealism of Berkeley in her writings. 
Thus in the mental-science period preceding 
what is now known as the New Thought, both 
those who began with Evans and those who 
started with Mrs. Eddy arrived at much the 
same conclusion; the universe lost for them a 
part of its reality, and the process of working 
back to the profounder view was made difficult. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

It is important to give brief attention at this 
point to the origin of Christian Science, since 
the therapeutic movement as a whole has felt 
the influence of this the most radical view during 
the past forty years. Moreover the testimony 
of Mrs. Eddy to Quimby's work and teaching is 
significant. It gives us another interpretation. 
It puts us in touch with a line of thought which 
competed with Mr. Evans's teaching in produc- 
ing "mental science," the forerunner of the New 
Thought. We can hardly follow the later his- 
tory intelligibly unless we have all the clues in 
our possession. We undertake this part of our 
inquiry in the spirit of the truth-seeker, without 
any desire to enter into a controversy regarding 
the indebtedness of one leader to another. We 
may bring forward the chief facts and leave them 
to speak for themselves. 

In The True History of Mental Science, 
which was originally a lecture delivered in Bos- 
ton at the request of people who wished to know 
the relationship of the various phases of the 

97 



98 The New Thought Movement 

therapeutic movement to one another, Mr. Julius 
A. Dresser says: 

"Among those who were friends as well as 
patients of Mr. Quimby during the years from 
1860 to 1865, and who paid high tributes to his 
discoveries of truth, and the consequent good to 
many people and to the world, was one who, for 
some strange reason, afterward changed and 
followed a different course, with which you all 
are more or less familiar. I refer to the author 
of Science and Health. As she had during sev- 
eral years special opportunities to know the man 
and to learn truth of him, this record would be 
incomplete without including her testimony at 
that time. Fortunately it can be given in her 
own words ; and you can form your own estimate 
of them. 

"When the lady became a patient of Quimby, 
she at once took an interest in his theory, and 
imbibed his explanations of truth rapidly. She 
also took a bold stand, and published an account 
of her progress in health in a daily paper. The 
following is an extract from her first article thus 
published, which appeared in the Portland 
Evening Courier in 1862: 

" 'When our Shakespeare decided that "there 
were more things in this world than were dreamed 
of in your philosophy," I cannot say of a verity 
that he had foreknowledge of P. P. Quimby. 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 99 

And when the school Platonic anatomized the 
soul and divided it into halves, to be reunited by 
elementary attractions, and heathen philosophers 
averred that old Chaos in sullen silence brooded 
o'er the earth until her inimitable form was 
hatched from the egg of night, I would not at 
present decide whether the fallacy was found in 
their premises or conclusions, never having dated 
my existence before the flood. . . . When from 
the evidence of the senses my reason takes 
cognizance of truth, although it may appear in 
quite a miraculous view, I must acknowledge 
that as a science which is truth uninvestigated. 
Hence the following demonstration: 

' 'Three weeks since I quitted my nurse and 
sick-room en route for Portland. The belief of 
my recovery had died out of the hearts of those 
who were most anxious for it. With this mental 
and physical depression I first visited P. P. 
Quimby, and in less than one week from that 
time I ascended by a stairway of one hundred 
and eighty-two steps to the dome of the City 
Hall, and am improving ad infinitum. To the 
most subtle reasoning, such a proof, coupled, 
too, as it is with numberless similar ones, demon- 
strates his power to heal. Now for a brief 
analysis of this power. 

' Ts it spiritualism? Listen to the words of 
wisdom. "Believe in God; believe also in me; 



100 The New Thought Movement 

or believe me for the very works' sake." Now, 
then, his works are but the result of superior 
wisdom, which can demonstrate a science not un- 
derstood: hence it were a doubtful proceeding 
not to believe him for the works' sake. Well, 
then, he denies that his power to heal the sick is 
borrowed from spirits of this or another world; 
and let us take the Scriptures for proof. "A 
kingdom divided against itself cannot stand." 
How, then, can he receive the friendly aid of 
the disenthralled spirit, while he rejects the faith 
of the solemn mystic who crosses the threshold 
of the dark unknown to conjure up from the 
vasty deep the awe-struck spirit of some invis- 
ible squaw? 

" 'Again, is it by animal magnetism that he 
heals the sick? Let us examine. I have em- 
ployed electro-magnetism and animal magnet- 
ism, and for a brief interval have felt relief, 
from the equilibrium which I fancied was re- 
stored to an exhausted system or by a diffusion 
of concentrated action. But in no instance did 
I get rid of a return of all my ailments, because 
I had not been helped out of the error in which 
opinions involved us. My operator believed in 
disease independent of the mind; hence, I could 
not be wiser than my teacher. But now I can 
see dimly at first, and only as trees walking, the 
great principle which underlies Dr. Quimby's 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 101 

faith and works; and, just in proportion to my 
light, perception, is my recovery. This truth 
which he opposes to the error of giving intelli- 
gence to matter and placing pain where it never 
placed itself, if received understandingly, 
changes the currents of the system to their nor- 
mal action; and the mechanism of the body goes 
on undisturbed. That this is a science capable 
of demonstration becomes clear to the minds of 
those patients who reason upon the process of 
their cure. The truth which he establishes in 
the patient cures him (although he may be wholly 
unconscious thereof) ; and the body, which is 
full of light, is no longer in disease. At present 
I am too much in error to elucidate the truth, 
and can touch only the key-note for the master- 
hand to wake the harmony. May it be in essays 
instead of notes, say I. After all, this is a very 
spiritual doctrine; but the eternal years of God 
are with it, and it must stand firm as the rock 
of ages. And to many a poor sufferer may it 
be found, as by me, "the shadow of a great rock 
in a weary land." ' " * 

Mr. Dresser comments on this article as fol- 
lows: "It will be observed, by noting the fore- 
going statements closely that the lady did under- 
stand that disease is a state of mind and the 
truth is its cure until this experience with Quimby 

i Quoted in The True History of Mental Science, revised ed., 
p. 29. 



102 The New Thought Movement 

took place ; and it will be seen how rapidly, dur- 
ing the three weeks' experience referred to, she 
had been grasping that truth, and seeing that it 
was a true science, and that it was curing her- 
self. It is now easy to see just when and just 
where she 'discovered Christian Science.' " 1 

It is interesting to digress from the above ac- 
count and look back a little to see how and why 
Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, came to visit 
Mr. Quimby. In 1899 I had in my temporary 
possession a series of letters addressed to Mr. 
Quimby, which no one except their owner, Mr. 
George A. Quimby, had seen for more than 
thirty years until they came into my hands, 
March 1 of that year, for consultation in the 
preparation of an article published in The Arena, 
Boston, May, 1899. I give the summary here 
in condensed form as printed in that article. 

The letters are chiefly of a personal character, 
and I shall mention them only so far as they con- 
cern the public, since it is unnecessary to do more. 
I shall confine myself to the mere statement of 
facts, the purpose of this brief statement being 
to set at rest the question concerning Mrs. 
Eddy's loyalty to Mr. Quimby previous to the 
publication of her book. 

The first of these letters is dated Rumney, N. 
H., October 14, 1861, and is addressed by Dr. D. 

i Ibid, p. 32. 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 103 

Patterson to "Dr. Quimby," soliciting the aid 
of the latter's "wonderful power," for the re- 
storation of his wife, who for a number of years 
had been an invalid, "unable to sit up." Then 
follow fourteen letters signed by Mrs. Patterson, 
bearing dates beginning May 29, 1862, and end- 
ing July 25, 1865; and written from Rumney, 
and Sanbornton Bridge, N. H., Saco and War- 
ren, Me., and Lynn, Mass. The first is a letter 
of appeal, expressing "entire confidence" in the 
"philosophy" of Mr. Quimby, and asking him 
to come to heal her, since if he does not save her, 
she must surely die — after six years of severe 
invalidism. Then follows a letter from a Hill 
(N. H.) water-cure, where Mrs. Patterson had 
gone for treatment, as Quimby could not come 
to her, which expresses the hope that she may 
yet reach Quimby, as she believes herself suffi- 
ciently "excitable," to live through the journey. 
This was in August, 1862; for in my father's 
journal . . . under date of October 17, 1862, I 
find mention of her. The next letter, written 
after her return home, is dated "Jan. 12, '63," and 
refers to the benefit received from a distant 
mental treatment which removed all her pain in 
a remarkable way, and speaks of herself as "a 
living wonder and a living monument of your 
power," as a result of which "five or six of my 
friends are going to visit you." She hopes soon 



104 The New Thought Movement 

to accompany her sister, Mrs. Tilton, to Portland 
to see Quimby. She says of herself, "I eat, 
drink, and am merry; have no laws to fetter my 
spirit now, though I am quite as much of an 
escaped prisoner as my dear husband was." * 
The letter expresses firm faith in Quimby's 
theory of disease, and reveals a clear understand- 
ing of it. She applies terms to disease which ap- 
pear both in Quimby's manuscripts, and in 
Science and Health. She says further, "I mean 
not again to look mournfully into the past, but 
wisely to improve the present . . . My ex- 
planation of your curative principle surprises 
people." 

The following letters relate to slight ailments 
for which Mrs. Patterson solicits Quimby's help, 
express utmost confidence in him, and show that 
she is spreading his ideas, defending him, defin- 
ing the difference between his theory and spirit- 
ualism, as well as making some effort to apply 
the healing principle. These letters are also 
full of gratitude and good wishes, of the love 
which the student feels for the revered teacher. 

In one of these letters, dated "Saco, Sept. 14, 
'63," Mrs. Patterson says, "I would like to have 
you in your omnipresence visit me [absent men- 
tal treatment] at 8 o'clock, this if convenient." 

i This reference is to Mrs. Eddy's second husband, Dr. Pat- 
terson. 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 105 

A later letter is dated Warren, Me., April 10, 
1864, and describes a lecture given by Mrs. Pat- 
terson, in which she outlined Quimby's theory, 
and once more distinguished his teaching from 
spiritualism. An earnest desire is expressed to 
engage in a more public work, and applications 
have already come to her both for treatment and 
for articles upon the subject. But she declares 
that she is not yet out of her "pupilage." The 
next letter expresses a yet deeper desire to realize 
the ideal of the higher life, to perfect herself that 
she may help others, and shows warm apprecia- 
tion of the spiritual side of Quimby's teaching. 
There is a noticeable variation in the handwriting 
in portions of this letter, and in general the hand- 
writing of these letters reveals a variety of moods. 
From time to time Mrs. Patterson encloses 
money in payment for absent treatments. 

Again, she speaks of Quimby's work as a 
"science," which has had as clear a demonstration 
in her case as any experiments she has "witnessed 
in clairvoyance." On one occasion she meets an 
acquaintance who was formerly editor of The 
Banner of Light, to whom she explains Quimby's 
philosophy. "He thought you a defunct spir- 
itualist ; before I quitted him at Berwick, he had 
endorsed your science." She quotes from mem- 
ory, in another letter, the public announcement 
of her address in Warren, Me., "Mrs. M. M. 



106 The New Thought Movement 

Patterson will lecture at the Town Hall one 
week from next Wednesday on P. P. Quimby's 
spiritual science [for the] healing [of] disease — 
as opposed to Deism or Rochester Rapping Spir- 
itualism." In the first letter from Warren, she 
reports having said to a friend when speaking of 
Quimby's power, "Why even the winds and the 
waves obey him." Again, "Dear Doctor, what 
could I do without you?" "X will not bow to 
wealth for I cannot honor it as I do wisdom." 
The following letter closes thus: "May the 
peace of wisdom which passeth all understanding 
be and abide with you. — Ever the same in grati- 
tude." A later letter asks, "Who is wise but 
you? What is your truth, if it applies only to 
the evil diseases which show themselves . . . 
Doctor, I have a strong feeling of late that I 
ought to be perfect after the command of science. 
... I can love only a good, honorable, and brave 
career; no other can suit me." 

Writing from Lynn, Mass., July 8, 1864, Mrs. 
Patterson speaks of the severe illness of her 
husband, earnestly wishing that Quimby were 
there to help, and stating that her husband only 
laughs when she explains the "truth" to him. 
She closes by asking, "Can you not prevent my 
taking it, and lend relief to him?" The last let- 
ter is the emotional cry of the mother heart, be- 
cause of the probably fatal illness of her son 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 107 

George, at Enterprise, Minnesota. The same 
unquestioning faith in the wonderful power of 
Mr. Quimby is expressed, with an earnest appeal 
to him to save her son, for whom she expresses 
the highest regard. There is not in these letters 
the least attempt to discredit Quimby's power as 
an enlightened healer, not the slightest mention 
of magnetism or electricity, and no suspicion that 
his treatment is not regarded as of a high spir- 
itual character. On the contrary, a longing is 
expressed to attain as high a level, and there is 
every reason to believe that the temptation to 
claim the great new truths as her own, came later 
when the field was free. It is noticeable, how- 
ever, that the temperament is one of great sus- 
ceptibility to the pains of others ; and there is con- 
stant appeal to Quimby to free her from these 
pains. 1 

While these letters were in my possession in 
1899, I showed them to trustworthy people who 
certified that they were in Mrs. Eddy's hand- 
writing, and expressed surprise that one who for- 
merly held Mr. Quimby in such high esteem, 
should trample upon his reputation, claiming his 
hard-won laurels as her own, borrowing his ideas, 
adopting his method of treatment, and even stat- 
ing in print that his writings may have been 
"stolen" from her published works! 

i End of summary from The Arena, May, 1899. 



108 The New Thought Movement 

The day after the publication of the article 
contributed by Mrs. Eddy to the Evening 
Courier, in 1862, it was adversely criticized by 
the Portland Advertiser, Mrs. Patterson re- 
plied and among other things said : 

"P. P. Quimby stands upon the plane of wis- 
dom with his truth. Christ healed the sick, but 
not by jugglery or with drugs. As the former 
speaks as never man before spake, and heals as 
never man healed since Christ, is he not identified 
with truth, and is not this the Christ which was in 
him? We know that in wisdom is life, 'and the 
life was the light of man.' P. P. Quimby rolls 
away the stone from the sepulchre of error, and 
health is the resurrection. But we also know 
that 'light shineth in darkness, and the darkness 
comprehendeth it not.' " 1 

"These excerpts," says Mr. Dresser, "are in 
plain language, and they speak for themselves. 
The statements are made with too evident an un- 
derstanding of their truth to be doubted or ques- 
tioned, or afterward reversed in any particular. 
It should be borne in mind that your speaker was 
there at the time, and was familiar with all the 
circumstances she relates and the views ex- 
pressed. The devoted regard the lady formed 
for her deliverer, Quimby, and for the truth he 
taught her, which proved her salvation, was con- 

i The True History of Mental Science, p. 32 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 109 

tinued to be held by her from this time, (the au- 
tumn of 1862) up to a period at least four years 
later; for in January, 1866, Quimby's death oc- 
curred, and on February 15 she sent to me a 
copy of a poem she had written to his mem- 
ory, and accompanied it by a letter commencing 
in these words: 'I enclose some lines of mine 
in memory of our much-loved friend, which, per- 
haps, you will not think over- wrought in mean- 
ing, others must, of course.' " * 

The title of this poem is significant: "Lines 
on the death of P. P. Quimby, who healed with 
the truth that Christ taught, in contradistinction 
to all isms." People had persistently identified 
Mr. Quimby with spiritism and other current 
theories. Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, saw 
as clearly as any one that he was misunderstood. 
She was always eager to defend him. Her de- 
fense shows that she rightly traced his references 
to scriptural teaching to the Bible, and that she 
accepted his interpretation of the New Testa- 
ment as containing a "spiritual science," the name 
for which she afterwards adopted for her version 
of his teaching, namely, Christian Science. 

One further reference to the letter by Mrs. 
Patterson in which she enclosed her poem is 
needed to make our history complete. She nat- 
urally supposed that Mr. Dresser would take up 

i Reprinted in The True History of Mental Science, p. 34. 



110 The New Thought Movement 

Quimby's practice among the sick, as he had for 
years been Quimby's most ardent follower. 
Consequently she writes, "I am constantly wish- 
ing that you would step forward into the place he 
has vacated. I believe you would do a vast 
amount of good, and are more capable of occupy- 
ing his place than any other I know of." Then 
Mrs. Patterson gives the immediate reason for 
wishing that this might come about: "Two weeks 
ago I fell on the sidewalk, and struck my back on 
the ice, and was taken up for dead, came to con- 
sciousness amid a storm of vapors from cologne, 
. . . camphor, etc., but to find myself the help- 
less cripple I was before I saw Dr. Quimby. 

"The physician attending said I had taken the 
last step I ever should, but in two days I got 
out of my bed alone and will walk ; but yet I con- 
fess I am frightened, and out of that nervous 
heat my friends are forming, spite of me, the 
terrible spinal affection from which I suffered so 
long and hopelessly. Now can't you help me? 
I believe you can. I write this with this feeling : 
I think that I could help another in my condi- 
tion if they had not placed their intelligence in 
matter. This I have not done, and yet I am 
slowly failing. Won't you write to me if you 
will undertake for me if I can get to you? . . . 
Respectfully, Mary M. Patterson." x 

i True History of Mental Science, p. 34. 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 111 

The answer was that Mr. Dresser did not at 
that time feel sufficient confidence to succeed Mr. 
Quimby. Mr. Evans had not then issued his 
first book and was not yet known as a healer. 
Apparently there was no one to take up the 
practice of spiritual healing. Fortunately, per- 
haps, for her, Mrs. Patterson had to depend on 
her own resources, for in so doing she probably 
grew in faith in the method of healing she had 
learned from Quimby. There is no evidence to 
show that Mrs. Patterson, who presently became 
Mrs. Eddy, made any special claims as discoverer 
before she published Science and Health, 1875. 
At the time Miss Milmine was preparing her very 
careful and wholly accurate series of articles on 
Mrs. Eddy for McClure's Magazine, I read 
manuscript lessons, then in Miss Milmine's pos- 
session, in which Mrs. Eddy, still teaching the 
ideas and methods which she acquired from 
Quimby, used a very interesting intermediate 
phraseology, often verbally like Quimby's early 
articles, but also resembling the language of 
Science and Health. In view of the fact that 
the first edition of Science and Health has been 
so far as possible suppressed, there is good rea- 
son to believe that its author still gave Mr. 
Quimby credit for his discoveries, and that she 
had no thought of making claims for herself as 
a revelator, as if Quimby had taught her nothing. 



112 The New Thought Movement 

What her reasons were for making the change, 
we need not ask. We are concerned, not with 
bestowing credit upon Quimby, for he never de- 
sired it, and whatever credit is his due no one can 
take from him; but with the fact that Mrs. 
Eddy's claim for herself as a revelator brought 
a division into the mental-healing camp. This 
is a historical fact which we cannot neglect, since 
this division has been an element in the history 
since 1882. 

We are interested as students of the history 
of this movement merely in the fact that there 
was a controversy in the Boston papers in 1883 
in which Mrs. Eddy indicated her change in at- 
titude toward Quimby and intensified the split in 
the therapeutic world. In a letter addressed to 
the Boston Post, dated "No. 569 Columbus Ave- 
nue, March 7, 1883," Mrs. Eddy says: 

"In 1862 my name was Patterson, my hus- 
band, Dr. Patterson, a distinguished dentist. 
After our marriage I was confined to my bed 
with a severe illness, and seldom left bed or 
room for seven years, when I was taken to Dr. 
Quimby and partially restored. I returned 
home happy, but only returned to a new agony 
to find my husband had eloped. ... I have a 
bill of divorce from him, obtained in the county 
of Essex. . . . We had laid the foundations of 
mental healing before we ever saw Dr. Quimby ; 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 113 

were an homceopathist without a diploma. We 
made our first experiments in mental healing 
about 1853, when we were convinced that mind 
had a science which, if understood, would heal 
all diseases. . . . Dr. Quimby was somewhat of 
a remarkable healer, and at the time we knew 
him was known as a mesmerist. 1 . . . We knew 
him about twenty years ago, and aimed to help 
him. We saw he was looking in our direction, 
and asked him to write his thoughts out. He did 
so, and then we would take that copy to correct, 
and sometimes so transform it that he would say 
it was our composition, which it virtually was; 
but we always gave him back the copy. 2 . . . 
But lo! after we have founded mental healing, 
and nearly twenty years have elapsed, during 
which we have taught some six hundred students, 
and published five or six thousand volumes on 
this subject . . . the aforesaid gentleman an- 
nounces to the public, Dr. Quimby, the founder 
of mental healing." 3 

It hardly seems credible that one who had held 
Quimby in such high esteem and had regarded 

i Compare this misstatement with Mrs. Eddy's appreciation of 
Quimby's work quoted above. Mr. Quimby had given up mes- 
merism many years before he moved to Portland in 1859. 

2 It was the Misses Ware and Mr. Quimby's son who copied 
his articles for him. No one else aided Quimby in this way. 
Mrs. Patterson saw none of the articles save the first volume, 
written in 1859, and loaned to Mrs. Patterson by Mr. J. A. Dresser. 

3 True History of Mental Science, p. 39. 



114 The New Thought Movement 

as performing works of healing in accordance 
with the Christian principle, should now make 
such a statement as the above and the following 
from the Christian Science Journal, June, 1887: 
"I never heard him intimate that he healed dis- 
eases mentally; and many others will testify that, 
up to his last sickness, he treated us magnetically 
— manipulating our heads, and making passes in 
the air while he stood in front of us. During his 
treatments I felt like one having hold of an elec- 
tric battery and standing on an insulating stool. 
His healing was never considered or called any- 
thing but Mesmerism. I tried to think better of 
it, and to procure him public favor, and it 
wounded me to have him despised. I believe he 
was doing good; and, even now, knowing as I 
do the harm in this practice, I would never re- 
vert to it but for this public challenge. I was 
ignorant of the basis of animal magnetism twenty 
years ago, but now know it would disgrace and 
invalidate any mode of medicine. " 

It will be noticed that in the article quoted 
above from the Portland Evening Courier, 1862, 
Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, distinctly says 
that she has employed animal magnetism and 
knows the results of the magnetic treatment. In 
contrast with such treatment, she finds Mr. 
Quimby employing a principle which explains 
the error on the part of those who attribute in- 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 115 

telligence to matter and believe in disease as "in- 
dependent of the mind," and declares that his 
doctrine is "very spiritual." The occasional use 
of the hands in rubbing a patient's head after the 
silent treatment was completed and by way of 
increasing the patient's faith, is explained by Mr. 
Dresser in The True History of Mental Science. 1 
It would be a long story to trace out and tell 
all the conflicting statements made by Mrs. 
Eddy's writers. Two of the latter have ad- 
mitted to me that they aided in writing such 
statements purely as matter of business, to sub- 
stantiate the claims in behalf of the supposed 
"revelation" in 1866. It was the hypothesis of 
a "revelation" that caused all the difficulty. The 
discrepancies in the dates are possibly due in part 
to the fact that different writers were employed 
to make them. The failure of the various 
writers to compare notes would also explain the 
many misstatements circulated since 1883 con- 
cerning Quimby's manuscripts, in regard to Dr. 
Ahren's trial, and the suit brought against The 
Arena Company for alleged infringement of 
rights in printing Mrs. Eddy's portrait. 2 Many 
other matters have been so interpreted as seem- 
ingly to discredit those who know the facts. 

i New ed., p. 25. 

2 No action was taken in regard to the subject-matter of the 
articles in The Arena. These articles have never been disputed. 



116 The New Thought Movement 

Here we refer to such matters merely to show 
that to ascertain the historical facts it would be 
necessary in every instance to pass beyond these 
statements published for reasons by those who 
had the reputation of an organization to sustain. 

For example, in the letter addressed to the 
Boston Post, quoted from above, Mrs. Eddy 
gives the date of her first experiments in mind- 
healing as 1853. In her Restrospection and In- 
trospection, page 28, she says, "It was in Massa- 
chusetts, in the year 1866, that I discovered the 
Science of Divine Metaphysical Healing, which 
I afterward named Christian Science." Again, 
on page 51, she says, "In 1867 I introduced the 
first purely metaphysical system of healing since 
apostolic days." This she named "the great dis- 
covery" on a "basis so hopelessly original" that 
she charges others with plagiarisms from "the 
precious book," Science and Health, "the only 
known work containing a correct and complete 
statement of the Science of Metaphysical Heal- 
ing, its principles and practice." 

In The Arena, May, 1899, a former student 
of Christian Science has examined some of the 
contradictory statements and shown that they 
are mutually destructive. Since we are now 
tracing the history of the therapeutic movement 
in general, we simply call attention to the fact 
that three of Mr. Evans's books were before the 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 117 

world when Science and Health was published, 
and that those works contain "a correct and com- 
plete statement of the science of metaphysical 
healing, its principles and practice," on the basis 
of the method acquired from Mr. Quimby and of 
principles adapted from the writings of Sweden- 
borg and the Bible. When Mrs. Eddy writes 
that "Dr. Quimby believed in the reality of dis- 
ease, and its power over life; and he depended 
on man's belief in order to heal him, as all mes- 
merists do," * we know of course that the state- 
ment is for a purpose. It is always difficult to 
sustain the hypothesis of a "revelation." Once 
entered into, the hypothesis is persistently as- 
serted and reasserted in varying terms. The un- 
dertaking would be relatively harmless were it 
not that thousands of people are deceived, inno- 
cent people who are unaware that they are per- 
petuating untruth. 

All we need say here is that probably Mrs. 
Eddy had no inkling of mental treatment in any 
form before she visited Mr. Quimby in 1862, al- 
though she had some acquaintance with spiritism 
and magnetic treatment, and knew enough about 
mesmerism to know that Quimby's treatment was 
not mesmeric and that he was not called a mes- 
merist save by those critics who did not under- 
stand his method. The testimony given in her 

i Christian Science Journal, June, 1887. 



118 The New Thought Movement 

letters is trustworthy because it antedated the 
time when the special claims were made in behalf 
of her own "discovery. " The actual discovery 
was of course the finding of Mr. Quimby, the ac- 
ceptance of his method of treatment, his theory 
of disease and its cure, his idea of man the spir- 
itual being, and the adoption of his "science of 
health and happiness" with its implied interpre- 
tation of the New Testament. The next step 
was taken with the endeavor to give people the 
benefit of Quimby's teaching, and this surely was 
made in good faith. Then came the fateful fall 
on the sidewalk in February, 1866, and the real- 
ization that she must depend upon her own un- 
derstanding of the new principle if she was to 
regain her health. This effort to apply Quimby's 
method was the "demonstration" which gave her 
the conclusive proof. We have a brief reference 
to this experience in Mrs. Eddy's own words: 

"At Swampscott, Mass., in 1866, we recovered 
in a moment of time from a severe accident, con- 
sidered fatal by the regular physicians, and re- 
gained the internal action that had stopped and 
the use of our limbs that were palsied. To us 
this demonstration was the opening of the new 
era of Christian Science. We then gained a 
proof that the principle, or life of man, is a di- 
vine intelligence and power which, understood, 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 119 

can heal all diseases, and reveals the basis of 
man's immortality." * 

So far the statement is correct, since the ability 
to apply Quimby's principle was the beginning 
of a "new era" for Mrs. Eddy. What she here 
says about this principle is given in the same 
terms which Quimby employed. But then fol- 
low statements calculated to mislead, as if 
Quimby's method of healing were a "mystery" 
to Mr. Dresser to whom she had applied for help 
after she had proved her power "to work out the 
problem of mental healing." The "wonderful 
discovery" she speaks of was of course her own 
clearer insight into the principle and the ability 
to apply it. Mrs. Eddy did not arrive at any 
new principle. There is no evidence in her pub- 
lished writings that she advanced beyond Quimby 
in any way. What she did was to develop the 
therapeutic principles in her own language and 
then give these the authority of special claims 
as if the idea of spiritual healing and of "Chris- 
tian" science had not been known previous to 
1866. To try to make these claims good it was 
necessary to ignore Mr. Evans, whose books be- 
gan to appear in 1869; to discredit Quimby as 
an "ignorant mesmerist"; and in many other 
ways to substitute misstatements for facts. 

i Letter to the Boston Post above quoted. 



120 The New Thought Movement 

Turning now to the ideas out of which Mrs. 
Eddy's version of the "theory" or "Truth" was 
developed, we note that Mrs. Eddy employed the 
same terminology for the most part in declaring 
disease an "error" of mind, although she was 
more inclined to employ negative statements or 
denials. Mr. Quimby denied that there is any 
I intelligence in matter or that the body had any 
\ power to produce disease apart from the mind. 
But his explanations were concrete and affirma- 
tive, based on many years of practice with the 
sick, and he saw no reason for denying natural 
facts. Mrs. Eddy's statements were more ab- 
stract since she did not enjoy the same advantage 
of practical experience. She introduced the 
less intelligible term "mortal mind" in place of 
Quimby's teaching that the lower mind consists 
of spiritual substance or "opinions" which grow 
like seeds in a fertile soil. But in general the 
contrast between truth and error remains as in 
Quimby's theory. 

Mrs. Eddy acquired from Quimby the idea of 
the spiritual interpretation of Scripture, and 
made this an important part of her version of 
Christian Science. Science and Health was put 
forward after a time as the actual "key" to scrip- 
tural interpretation, with an authority claimed 
for it which was a wide departure from Quimby's 
modest claims. Quimby had taught that there 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 121 

is an implied science in the Scriptures, as we have 
noted above. He had even employed the term 
"Christian Science." * But Mrs. Eddy under- 
stood this "science" in part only, or she would not 
have claimed it as her own "revelation." Mrs. 
Eddy neglected the larger clues to spiritual in- 
terpretation which she might have found by turn- 
ing from Mr. Evans's The Mental Cure to Swed- 
enborg's works, and which she might have based 
on the Bible itself as the Word, instead of basing 
such an interpretation on a personal view. If, 
as reported, Mrs. Eddy allowed her name to be 
coupled with that of Christ, this of course marks 
a still wider departure from the spirit exempli- 
fied by Mr. Quimby. 

Mrs. Eddy also tended to introduce specula- 
tive terms to some extent, based on a version of 
Berkeley, with whom she believed herself in 
agreement. But as in the case of Mr. Evans's 
later version of the spiritual healing theory, an 
analysis of the differences would take us too far 
afield. I have elsewhere examined this view of 
Berkeley. 2 We note this view in order to show 
why on the whole readers of Science and Health 
have tended to make light of the natural world. 
There may have been an advantage in favor of 

i This term was first used, in an entirely different connection, 
by Abram Cowles, 1840; and by Rev. Wm. Adams, Elements of 
Christian Science, Philadelphia, 1850. 

2 Man and the Divine Order, p. 301. 



122 The New Thought Movement 

this sort of idealism for those who were work- 
ing away from a purely naturalistic point of 
view. As an extreme reaction against a mate- 
rialistic age, Christian Science may have had a 
lesson for us. But our thought need not rest in 
extremes. It is not necessary to deny any of the 
realities, laws or conditions of the natural world 
in order to test the truths of mental healing. 
There is no advantage in denying anything that 
God has made. 

Mrs. Eddy's hypothesis of "malicious animal 
magnetism" was a departure from Quimby's 
teaching; for Quimby did not charge his critics 
with any effort to work against him, he was not 
concerned with the "malicious." This hypoth- 
esis seems rather strange, in view of the fact that 
Mrs. Eddy had declared that "All is good; there 
is no evil." It came into vogue in Christian 
Science circles in connection with some of the 
early students, some of whom were charged with 
appropriating Mrs. Eddy's ideas. Quimby had 
taught that minds influence one another far more 
than we realize, and that minds give off an "at- 
mosphere"; but he had nothing to say about 
"magnetism" since he traced all the adverse in- 
fluences to which the sick are subject to fear, 
error, and opinions or beliefs. When Mrs. 
Eddy explains evil as an illusion due to the er- 
rors of "mortal mind," to the ignorance of our 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 123 

true nature, Quimby would have pointed out that 
in all consistency one should cleave to this our 
real nature, to the truth of our real being, not 
concerning ourselves with so-called "animal mag- 
netism." Quimby would have said that "Good 
or God never causes evil, or creates aught that 
can cause evil" ; for he held that man's misery is 
of man's own invention, and should not be attri- 
buted to God. 

When Mrs. Eddy declares that Christ was 
"the divine manifestation of God, which comes 
in the flesh, to destroy incarnate error," and that 
Jesus was "the human man and Christ is divine," 
she is drawing the same distinction which runs 
through Quimby's teaching. Quimby also said 
that "man is God's idea," "the spiritual image 
and likeness of God," and he too taught that man 
in this sense of the word does not sin, is not sick, 
since sin or sickness is explicable by reference to 
the opinions or beliefs which man entertains in 
his ignorance. Mrs. Eddy gives further expres- 
sion to this principle when she says, "The realm 
of the real is spiritual." "The spiritual universe, 
including man, is a compound yet individual idea, 
reflecting the divine Substance of Spirit," 
"Spirit is God, and man is the image and like- 
ness ; hence man is spiritual and not material." 

When, however, Mrs. Eddy declares that 
"there is no matter, it is non-existent," "matter 



124 The New Thought Movement 

is another name for mortal mind," "the body is in 
fact mortal mind, though it is called matter," 
she is only partly stating Quimby's view. 
Quimby called the lower mind "spiritual matter," 
and he held that man entertains all sorts of opin- 
ions concerning the body as if matter contained 
intelligence ; but he did not deny the existence of 
the body, which is part of nature and which we 
might all truly understand if we would take our 
start with the "scientific man," the "spiritual 
man," or real self. Mrs. Eddy's statement, 
"Mortal mind is not an entity. It is only a 
false sense of matter," comes nearer Quimby's 
terminology. It was this "false sense of mat- 
ter" which Quimby sought to dispel by establish- 
ing the truth concerning man's being. Mrs. 
Eddy speaks of the flesh as "An error of physi- 
cal belief, a supposition that life, substance and 
intelligence are in matter ... a belief that mat- 
ter has sensation." She is here drawing the 
same distinction, save that Quimby would have 
called attention to the fact that there is a true 
idea of the flesh: man did not create the body, 
but has entertained a false idea of it by attrib- 
uting to it the intelligence which belongs only 
to mind. The curative principle is stated by 
Mrs. Eddy when she says that "the healing power 
of Truth is demonstrated to be an immanent, 
eternal quality, or principle," the term "Princi- 



The Beginnings of Christian Science 125 

pie" having been substituted for Quimby's term 
"Wisdom." What Mrs. Eddy aimed to express 
no doubt was the supremacy of spirit over ma- 
terial circumstance, hence over all errors, opin- 
ions and beliefs. To see this truth and express 
it in one's own fashion is to adopt the affirmative 
attitude, and that was Quimby's aim in establish- 
ing "the science of life and happiness," or "Chris- 
tian Science." 



VI 

THE MENTAL SCIENCE PERIOD 

After Mr. Quimby's death, in 1866, there was 
little activity in the world of the new therapeut- 
ism for a number of years. Mr. Evans was prac- 
tising the new method in a quiet way in Salis- 
bury, Massachusetts, and was writing his earlier 
books. The Misses Ware and other patients 
who had manifested special interest in Quimby's 
teaching were still doing what they could to 
make that teaching known. Mr. Dresser pos- 
sessed copies of Quimby's manuscript volumes 
and sometimes read from these or loaned them 
to people who wished to know how Quimby 
healed. Mrs. Eddy had recovered from her fall 
and the illness attendant upon it, and was cir- 
culating Mr. Quimby's ideas to some extent. 
But there was no organized effort to inculcate 
the new theory, and no one ventured to take up 
the therapeutic practice on a large scale. 

The first event of significance during those 
years was the publication of Mr. Evans's book, 
The Mental Cure, in 1869. Great interest was 
shown in that work, and it was the beginning of 

126 



The Mental Science Period 127 

a campaign of education which has continued 
ever since. But time was required to win assent 
to views which seemed so radical. That was be- 
fore the days of the "new psychology." No one 
had then thought of supporting the teachings it 
contained by associating them with transcenden- 
talism and the writings of Emerson. The dev- 
otees of the New Church did not respond to Mr. 
Evans's effort to apply Swedenborg's doctrines 
to spiritual healing. 1 What was needed, per- 
haps, was a more radical and less reasonable 
statement of the principles underlying the new 
therapeutism. For the general public is more 
apt to respond to radical views. Oftentimes the 
less reasonable view is needed to give sufficient 
contrast and provoke controversy. 

This impetus was given after the publication 
of Mr. Evans's third book, Soul and Body, by the 
launching of Mrs. Eddy's radical propositions in 
Science and Health, published in 1875. If we 
are to see any purpose at all in the publication of 
that book, we may venture to say that it had 
value in arousing people out of their material- 
ism. The results of the past forty years ap- 
parently justify this statement, for to those of us 
who have known former Christian scientists as 
they came one by one out of their radical into 
more reasonable views it has been plain that 

1 The only exception was Dr. Holcombe, to be mentioned later. 



128 The New Thought Movement 

something like Science and Health was needed 
to set matters in motion. 

The first reaction was against the "revelator" 
and the claims made in behalf of a supposed "rev- 
elation." The second was against the theory 
contained in Science and Health, which had 
served for the time being to provoke thought. 
Just as the earlier readers of Mrs. Eddy's book 
took fundamental exception to it, so increasing 
numbers have departed from her organization to 
set up for themselves, meanwhile keeping such 
ideas as had proved of value. In due time the 
last Christian scientist will probably take leave 
in the same way. In retrospect people will then 
wonder why such a reaction did not occur long 
before. 

We chronicle the fact, then, significant for our 
history, that after Mrs. Eddy's work appeared 
there was a tendency to read both Evans and 
Eddy, and that "mental science" was a comming- 
ling of ideas gathered from these two sources and 
from the teachings of those who, like Mr. Julius 
Dresser, had held to Quimby's teaching in its or- 
iginal form. The term "mental science," intro- 
duced by Mr. Evans, with reference to the psy- 
chological aspect of the new therapeutism, began 
to be used in 1882-3 for the whole teaching. It 
was used in preference to the term Christian 
Science because the latter term had become iden- 



The Mental Science Period 129 

tified with the hypothesis of a "revelation." The 
term "mental" was spiritualized by those who ad- 
hered to Quimby's teaching. Thus Mr. Dresser 
employed it when responding to the request to 
narrate "the true history" of the therapeutic 
movement. The term "mental" was almost a 
synonym for "Christian," as used by those who 
believed that the new healing was wrought by 
spiritual means. For others it was a convenient 
expression for their faith that health is mental 
rather than physical, that causality is in the realm 
of thought, and that true science is the opposite 
of medical materialism. 

As we have seen above, Mr. Evans restated 
his views in terms of idealism in his later book, 
The Divine Law of Cure, Boston, 1881. We 
have also noted that Mrs. Eddy taught an ideal- 
ism akin to Berkeley's view, as Berkeley is mis- 
understood. Readers untrained in philosophy 
easily found the two interpretations identical. 
Hence a practical idealism emphasizing thought 
as fundamental, as the "greatest power in the 
world," readily came into vogue. It did not of 
course matter that philosophically speaking it 
would be difficult to defend the proposition that 
"to think and exist are one and the same." 
What people wanted was their health. They 
were not interested in metaphysics. For them 
there was a very workable conception in the 



130 The New Thought Movement 

teaching that "disease is an error of mind." 
They had been regarding it as merely physical. 
They had taken it to be an entity that can at- 
tack man from without, whatever his inner state. 
For the time being what they needed was a point 
of view as far removed from materialism as pos- 
sible. 

There is always an advantage in radical claims. 
If you adopt a point of view which in your way of 
thinking at the time contains all that is true, con- 
demning all other views as false, you then give 
yourself as fully to that one view as did the early 
Mohammedans to their prophet when they held 
that all books save the Koran should be burned. 
The affirmative attitude goes with such claims, 
and people in search of health, after medical 
science has pronounced their cases hopeless, must 
be affirmative. "What we believe, that we 
create," so Quimby had taught. It was essen- 
tial to believe that all causality was in the realm 
of mind. Meanwhile, the natural universe could 
take care of itself. It was not destroyed by the 
proposition that "there is no matter." 

Some of the beliefs passing current in the men- 
tal-science period would indeed seem absurd to 
those of us who try to think matters out to the 
end, as well as to believers in natural facts and 
the ability of men of science to state facts apart 
from theoretical prejudice. But we must re- 



The Mental Science Period 131 

member the bondages out of which the people 
had come who exclaimed in their enthusiasm that 
they could "eat mince-pie at midnight," or any- 
thing else they liked at any time, and suffer no 
inconvenience; since "there is no quality in food 
save what the mind gives it, in the unconscious 
beliefs of the race." What people were trying 
to do was to eliminate the "false beliefs," "the 
errors of mind," which had held them in subjec- 
tion. They did this with enthusiasm and the re- 
sults were on the whole good. It was natural, 
having concluded that medicines and drugs have 
no qualities save those attributable to the sugges- 
tions which people have associated with them, that 
all material things and conditions should be re- 
garded as affecting man according to his belief. 
The point was that, whether agreeing with Mrs. 
Eddy in full or not, one should at least go as 
far as Quimby and Evans went, showing that 
matter contains "no intelligence or power in it- 
self." To take this stand was to be prepared to 
overcome all adversaries. 

The first groups of people assembled to dis- 
cuss these matters in Boston in 1882 and 1883 
were indebted for their impetus to the sources 
indicated above. A number of healers and 
teachers left Mrs. Eddy and branched out inde- 
pendently at the same time Mr. Evans's teachings 
were gaining headway in Boston, and Mr. 



132 The New Thought Movement 

Dresser contributed his share by giving the de- 
sired information concerning Quimby and his 
views. The papers began to take some notice of 
the new teachings, and the term "mind-cure" was 
brought into vogue. The new movement was of 
course looked upon as "the Boston craze" by 
those who saw no meaning in it, and it was an 
easy matter for the general public to misunder- 
stand. 

The first impression gained by the public was 
practically this: When we are ill, we merely 
think or imagine we are sick. Disease is simply 
a myth. It can be banished with a thought. 
Consequently, if you would address the devotee 
of the mind-cure with due respect say to him 
when he seems to have a cold, "Oh, you have the 
belief of a cold!" There is really no suffering 
or misery in the world, "but thinking makes it 
so." But it would be well for the mind-curers 
to "make hay while the sun shines," since they 
cannot expect people to hold such views very 
long. 

What the new movement amounted to for the 
average devotee was first of all a method of heal- 
ing that had somehow in a remarkable way given 
them back their health. As the healers increased 
in number, the interest grew, and many patients 
remained to study with their healers after they 
had regained their health. Thus the habit of 



The Mental Science Period 133 



teaching the principles of the new therapeutism 
came into vogue, and after taking a course of ten 
or twelve class-lectures some of the students 
started out to heal and then to teach in their 
own way. As the mental scientists had no au- 
thoritative text-book, no leader accepted as a rev- 
elator, and no organization maintaining a hold 
upon its followers, the tendency was for each 
healer to branch out freely, say nothing about 
the origin of the ideas in question; but to set 
them forth as if they had just been acquired. 

Many of the devotees left the churches to 
which they belonged as disciples of the old the- 
ology, passed through a reaction against that 
theology, and found their religion in healing the 
sick. Thus in time the meeting devoted to an 
exposition of the new therapeutism took the place 
of the service in the churches. The silent treat- 
ment was akin to prayer or worship, on its re- 
ligious side, and so "the silence" as it has since 
been called became a part of the meeting. Such 
meetings used to be held Sunday evenings, so as 
to avoid a conflict of hours in the case of fol- 
lowers who still wished to attend the morning 
service in the established churches. The 
Wednesday evening experience meeting early 
came into vogue, everybody was invited to take 
part, and so the meetings became democratic. 
One of the early leaders in these meetings in 



134 The New Thought Movement 

Boston, J. W. Winkley, had been a Unitarian 
minister. 1 Others had contemplated entering 
the ministry or were teachers. Hence there 
were devotees capable of directing the meetings 
and introducing the element of worship, or lead- 
ing in regular instruction. The name given to 
the first of these independent societies in Boston, 
"Church of the Divine Unity," suggests the point 
of emphasis in such worship. The aim was to 
throw off the old theology and substitute the idea 
of the immanence of God in His wisdom, as the 
omnipresent help "in times of trouble." 

To judge by their teachings simply, those that 
the general public misunderstood and treated 
with ridicule, would be wholly to miss the spirit 
of these early workers in the new field. There 
were able and earnest men and women among 
them who put into their work and their teach- 
ings the persuasive power of the evangelist giv- 
ing to the masses the great truths which the 
world needed. They one and all owed their re- 
covery to the new method. They one and all 
found a religion, a rediscovery of Christianity 
in their service among the sick. For them the 
healing of disease was part of the instruction of 
the whole individual, the beginning of a new 
life. Moreover, in their teaching and in their 
public meetings they had the impetus which 

i See The Spirit of the New Thought, p, 47. 



The Mental Science Period 135 

comes to those who realize that the truths they 
have to give are relatively new and eagerly 
sought for. Consequently, with little previous 
preparation, oftentimes without notes or any sub- 
ject chosen in advance, these speakers gave forth 
what was to them in very truth "the science of 
life and happiness," as Quimby had called it. 

Among these leaders were some who, like Mr. 
E. M. Chesley, later active in the Metaphysical 
Club of Boston, took their clue from Mr. Evans's 
books and began to trace out the ideas in the phi- 
losophies of the past which resembled mental 
science. 1 Thus after a time the term "meta- 
physics" came into vogue to indicate that the 
fundamental principles of the new movement 
were akin to the great idealisms of the past. In 
his Facts and Fictions of Mental Healing, Bos- 
ton, 1887, Mr. Charles M. Barrows, formerly a 
teacher and well acquainted with the history of 
thought, looked back to ancient India to find 
forerunners of the new ideas. Mr. Barrows also 
pointed out that the same idealistic wisdom was 
contained in the writings of Emerson, howbeit 
none of the therapeutic leaders had until then 
noted the resemblance. This was the beginning 
of interest in Emerson on the part of those who 

i See Mr. Chesley's papers on "The New Metaphysical Move- 
ment," and "The Law of the Good," in The Spirit of the New 
Thought. 



136 The New Thought Movement 

later became known as New Thought leaders. 

At this time, also, people began to notice re- 
semblances between mental science and theos- 
ophy. Miss M. J. Barnett, author of Practical 
Metaphysics, Boston, 1889, and other volumes, 
was the first writer to take the lead in what be- 
came a well-known branch of the mental-healing 
movement, the tendency to interpret mental heal- 
ing on a theosophical basis. Mr. Colville, au- 
thor of The Spiritual Science of Health and 
Healing, 1889, and several other volumes, was 
among the first to set forth the therapeutic teach- 
ings in a manner typical of believers in medium- 
ship or spiritism. It is a question whether the 
mental-healing movement has gained by the tend- 
ency to connect it with so many teachings more or 
less akin. But however that may be, we simply 
note the fact that, beginning in 1887, writers on 
the subject of mental healing tended to look 
afield. Hence the books from that time on be- 
came very diverse. Only those readers under- 
took to compass them all or compare their teach- 
ings who were concerned to follow the movement 
in all its branches. 

The first mental-science magazine established 
in Boston, the Mental Healing Monthly, was 
edited by the same group of leaders who organ- 
ized the Church of the Divine Unity. The 
same leaders also organized the first mental- 



The Mental Science Period 137 

science convention. In this period also belong 
the first publications issued in Chicago, the Men- 
tal Science Magazine, edited by Mr. A. J. 
Swartz, formerly a devotee of Christian Science, 
and the Christian Metaphysician edited by Mr. 
George B. Charles 1887-1897. Wayside Lights, 
established by Edward Sheldon, Miss L. C. Gra- 
ham and other pioneers in mental science in Hart- 
ford, Conn., January, 1890; Thought, the fore- 
runner of Unity, edited by Charles Fillmore, 
Kansas City; and Harmony, edited by Mrs. M. 
E. Cramer, San Francisco, 1889-1906, belong in 
the same group. All these publications stood for 
an independent interpretation of mental healing, 
but with a common tendency to look back to the 
New Testament and bring out its implied "spir- 
itual science," according to the teachings of 
Quimby, Evans and Mrs. Eddy. 

One of the earliest of the mental science writ- 
ers, Miss S. S. Grimke, in a book bearing the 
curious title Personified Unthinkables, 1884, in- 
terpreted the practical idealism with special ref- 
erence to mental pictures and their influence. 
This emphasis on mental pictures was character- 
istic of Mr. Quimby. In fact, Quimby some- 
times described the mental part of his treatment 
with reference to the pictures he discerned in- 
tuitively in the patient's mind, and the ideal pic- 
tures in connection with which "the truth of a 



138 The New Thought Movement 

patient's being" was established in place of the 
"error or disease." * 

Mrs. Elizabeth G. Stuart, of Hyde Park, 
Mass., a sometime student under Mrs. Eddy's 
instruction, also brought forward this element 
of the silent treatment. 2 Among Mrs. Stuart's 
students was Mr. Leander Edmund Whipple, 
whose work dates from the period of his studies 
with Mrs. Stuart in Hyde Park. Mr. Whipple 
employed the term mental science when he be- 
gan his work as a mental healer in Hartford, 
Conn., December, 1885. The interest aroused 
by his highly successful work in Hartford led to 
the pioneer activities in mental healing there. 
Later, Mr. Whipple moved to New York, where 
he was also one of the pioneers, established The 
Metaphysical Magazine, 1895, a large-sized pe- 
riodical, the first of its class devoted to mental 
healing; organized the American School of 
Metaphysics, and issued several volumes on the 
general subject, notably The Philosophy of Men- 
tal Healing, a standard work of its type, and The 
Manual of Mental Science. Mr. Whipple, who 
did not affiliate with the other therapeutists and 
teachers in New York, has been referred to as 
"the head of the metaphysical movement in this 

i See The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, p. 51. 

2 See The Healing Power of Mind, by E. G. Stuart, Boston, 

1885. 



The Mental Science Period 139 

country." But he was one of the pioneer lead- 
ers, only, and for thirty years, until his death, 
May 25, 1916, a distinctive teacher and healer. 
The term "metaphysical movement" was also 
used in Boston by the organizers of the Meta- 
physical Club. 

Mrs. Stuart held the first class in Hartford, 
Conn., in May, 1885. Another class was formed 
in April, 1888. Among her students were Miss 
L. C. Graham, long a successful healer and 
teacher, and Miss Esther Henry, also a leading 
teacher and healer, connected in recent years with 
the New Thought Federation. Mrs. Stuart's 
followers in Massachusetts and New York, "be- 
lieving that earnest cooperation of workers fa- 
cilitated progress in any great work, had organ- 
ized in each state under the name, "Light, Love, 
Truth." The Hartford group adopted the same 
name, the ideal being "that the work should not 
be aggressive, but that each one should go forth 
quietly, holding the torch of Truth firmly and 
fearlessly. . . . The symbol adopted was the 
equilateral triangle, as representing the funda- 
mental trinity of Life, interpreted in this way: 
Life cannot be manifested apart from Love and 
Truth. Love cannot be separated from Life 
and Truth. Without Truth there can be neither 
Life nor Love." Miss Esther Henry was 
elected president; Mrs. Mary M. C. Keney, vice- 



140 The New Thought Movement 

president; and Miss Mary N. Davis, secretary 
and treasurer. In 1889 it was voted to admit 
mental scientists other than the immediate fol- 
lowers of Mrs. Stuart, and a special invitation 
was sent to Miss Minnie S. Davis and her stu- 
dents to join the society. Miss Davis was the 
pioneer in establishing mental science in Spring- 
field, Mass. 

Another leader whose work began in Hartford 
during the mental-science period was Mr. C. B. 
Patterson, who adopted mental science in 1887, 
established a society known as The Alliance, and 
later in New York took this name for his pub- 
lishing business. But Mr. Patterson's work be- 
longs rather with the New-Thought period, as 
his books and magazine, Mind, were not pub- 
lished until the later years. In New York and 
Chicago, various phases of the mental-healing 
movement began to appear at this time, under 
the leadership of teachers who, like Mrs. Emma 
Curtis Hopkins and Mrs. Ursula N. Gestefeld., 
reacted against Christian Science and branched 
out for themselves, agreeing in part with the 
mental scientists, and in part introducing ideas 
of their own. Mrs. Gestefeld adopted the term 
Science of Being, instead of metaphysics. 1 Mrs. 
Gestefeld was for many years one of the leading 

i See Statement of Christian Science, New York, 1888; The 
Science of the Christ, Chicago, 1889. 



The Mental Science Period 141 

representatives of this type of mental-healing 
theory. Like the Divine Scientists and the fol- 
lowers of Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Gestefeld's stu- 
dents assimilated in their own way "the spiritual 
science" of the Scriptures. 

Devotees of the mental-picture theory were 
inclined to place more stress on the psychological 
elements of mental healing. Mr. Whipple's 
terminology, for* example, centered about the 
idea of a "specific-image treatment." Accord- 
ing to this terminology, the blotting out of men- 
tal pictures pertaining to the disease and the sub- 
stitution of ideal pictures in their stead is the 
essence of the whole mental-healing process. 
All devotees of the New Thought would recog- 
nize a truth in this way of stating the matter, but 
would be inclined to dwell on other elements of 
the process, also, such as the elimination of fear 
and other disturbing mental states, which might 
be more central or influential than the mere pic- 
tures associated with these states. The term 
"metaphysical healing" as employed by Mr. 
Whipple does not signify anything different so 
far as the underlying principles are concerned. 
Many disciples of mental science used this term 
as synonymous with "mental science" and ap- 
plied idealism. Mrs. Eddy also employed the 
term "metaphysical" as the name of her school 
in Boston. The term "metaphysics" as thus em- 



142 The New Thought Movement 

ployed need not be understood in the philosophi- 
cal sense as a complete system of first principles. 
It means a practical idealism emphasizing mental 
or spiritual causality in contrast with the prev- 
alent materialism, or the assumption that matter 
possesses independent life and intelligence. 
Thus the term "Christian metaphysics" is prac- 
tically the same as the terms used by Quimby to 
indicate that there is -a spiritual science in the 
New Testament. 

I have elsewhere given a brief account of the 
work and teaching of Mr. Julius A, Dresser, 
(1838-1893) whose public activities as healer 
and teacher began in Boston, October, 1882. * 
The articles contained in The Mental Healing 
Monthly of 1887-88, and the address delivered in 
the Church of the Divine Unity, 1887, may be re- 
garded as typical of the line of thought devel- 
oped directly out of Quimby's teaching. 2 The 
first emphasis was on what Mr. Dresser called 
"The Omnipresent Wisdom," in accordance 
with Quimby's view that the therapeutic effi- 
ciency was attributable to the divine immanence. 
Mental science was for him the psychological 
theory by which the mental part of the process 
of cure was made explicit. Mr. Dresser used to 
introduce idealistic interpretations of the universe 

i Health and the Inner Life, p. 121. 

2 See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 59. 



The Mental Science Period 143 

into his class-lectures in order to give his hearers 
the inner point of view. But, following Quimby, 
he did not deny the existence of the natural uni- 
verse. For him the teaching he had acquired 
from Quimby was a religion. It was this re- 
ligious spirit which impressed his students more 
than anything else in his teaching. Mr. Dresser 
read excerpts from Quimby's manuscripts in his 
classes, and heartily endorsed Mr. Evans's early 
books as expressions of the spiritual teaching of 
those manuscripts. The work established by 
Mr. Dresser belongs under the head of mental 
science, as thus understood, rather than under 
the name New Thought. 

In a paper entitled "The Science of Life," 
Mrs. J. A. Dresser has given first-hand impres- 
sions of Quimby's teaching. 1 Mrs. Dresser's ex- 
perience as a healer led to the view which I have 
expressed in my own language in a chapter en- 
titled "The Meaning of Suffering," in The 
Power of Silence, 1895, a book which with Health 
and the Inner Life, may be taken as representa- 
tive of the type of mental science developing out 
of the teachings acquired from Mr. Quimby. 
This interpretation of suffering marked a de- 
parture to some extent from Quimby's view of 
disease, since there would appear to be no com- 

i The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 201 ; see, also, The Phil- 
osophy of P. P. Quimby. 



144 The New Thought .Movement 

pensation if disease be merely an "error of mind." 
It means that behind our suffering there is the 
immanent divine life seeking recognition and co- 
operation. It means misunderstanding on our 
part of the profounder relationships of our ex- 
istence. Instead of simply trying to banish our 
haunting mental pictures, or to substitute one 
set of suggestions or associations for another, we 
need to know our inner life to the foundation, 
transferring the centre of our mental activity 
from our discomfort, largely misunderstood, to 
the divine life, seeking to lift us into freedom. 
The result of this profounder interest, if we see 
its true significance, would be an essentially spir- 
itual view of life in contrast with one that cen- 
tres about the power of thought. 

But mental science as Evans used the term in 
his first book was intended to be spiritual. In 
the more comprehensive terminology of that 
book, one can scarcely understand the human 
mind without learning that interiorly the mind 
is open to the divine life by influx. The true 
mind is the mind of the spirit, not the "mind of 
the flesh," not "mortal mind." The true mind 
or spirit operates directly on another spirit in 
the silent treatment. The true mental science 
would then be very different from the psycholog- 
ical theory passing current under that name. It 
would be essentially practical, and by applying it 



The Mental Science Period 145 

one would indeed be able, as Quimby said, "to 
teach goodness as a science." It was this in- 
sight which characterized Evans's teaching and 
gave the early impetus in the mental-science pe- 
riod. 

It was the impetus which this insight gave 
which characterized the movement as it spread 
from Boston to Hartford and New York, and 
later found representatives in Chicago, Kansas 
City, San Francisco, and other cities. Later, the 
term "mental science" was employed by Mrs. 
Helen Wilmans and others, notably in the far 
West, in a rather different sense. According to 
Mrs. Wilmans mental science was a kind of self- 
emancipation involving a new assertion of the 
self, for one "who dares affirm the I." This af- 
firmation of the self has been characteristic of 
some who have seized upon the machinery of 
suggestion and used it to advantage in attaining 
their freedom. But it should not be confounded 
with the earlier mental science of such leaders 
as Winkley, Chesley, Swartz, and Charles, nor 
with the movement in Kansas City which became 
known as Practical Christianity. 

Mental science was indeed a broad tendency 
of thought. It could be connected with theoso- 
phy, spiritism, the teachings of Prentice Mul- 
ford, mysticism, pantheism, theoretical idealism, 
and the like. It could be traced back to India by 



146 The New Thought Movement 

those who took remote resemblances for historical 
causes. It could be identified with certain of 
Swedenborg's teachings about influx, corre- 
spondence, and the relation of the soul to the 
body. It could be regarded as modified Chris- 
tian Science. It might be understood as 
Quimby's "theory" or "truth." It naturally 
found varied expressions because it appealed to 
individuals of different types. Each one gained 
the central ideas and then began to develop his 
special views around them. Out of these came 
with even greater variety what is now known as 
the New Thought. 

In so far as one may discriminate between the 
two phases of the mental-healing movement, we 
note that in the mental-science period the appli- 
cation of mental science to health was the chief 
interest. The so-called prosperity treatment had 
not yet been heard of. Nothing had as yet been 
said about "the cause and cure of old age." * It 
had not become customary to hold meditation 
meetings. Very little effort had been made to 
organize the movement. There were as yet no 
Unity Centres or Circles of Divine Ministry. 
The public had merely a superficial view of the 
"mind-cure." Few people as yet saw an eman- 
cipating tendency in the movement akin to re- 

i This type of thought was made popular by Eleanor Kirk, au- 
thor of Perpetual Youth, Brooklyn, 1895. 



The Mental Science Period 147 

ligious liberalism. The popularizing of psychol- 
ogy and the development of psychical research 
were to come at a later time. Mental science had 
little influence on medical practice. But mental 
science did much more than merely keep in ac- 
tion the impetus which had come from Quimby 
and had been developed by his followers. It 
stood for a theory of mental healing primarily. 
But it was to lead to the New Thought, hence to 
find varied expression in rivalry with Christian 
Science. It fostered a kind of impersonalism, 
such that its leaders took only a modicum of 
credit to themselves. Thus it was a kind of pro- 
testantism. It rejected all claims to a "revela- 
tion," and substituted each man's thought for 
"the authorized text-book." To understand it 
on this side as a reaction, is to see why it nat- 
urally led to the individualism of the New 
Thought. Some of the New-Thought leaders 
began their work in this period. But for pur- 
poses of convenience we classify them with the 
workers whose activity dates for the most part 
after 1890. 

It would be well, no doubt, to bear in mind 
that as the mental-healing movement spread and 
became more or less connected with other move- 
ments of thought, it became more diffuse in va- 
rious respects; hence lost some of its spiritual 
power. It was natural to trace resemblances to 



148 The New Thought Movement 

theosophy, spiritism, the idealism of ancient 
India, the idealism of Berkeley; but what was 
gained out of curiosity was scarcely sufficient 
to compensate for the loss in practical efficiency. 
There is a great advantage in concentration. It 
is not necessary to try in every possible way to 
state the same ideas. We need a standard. 
Mr. Evans was far better prepared as a writer 
than most of those who restated the essentials 
in their less enlightened fashion. His works re- 
main the standard works of the mental-science 
period. They come nearer a complete demon- 
stration of mental or spiritual healing than most 
books on the New Thought. 

If, identifying the idealism of Mr. Evans's 
The Divine Law of Cure with the same line of 
thought in Mrs. Eddy's book, one should empha- 
size the psychological process, one might under- 
stand mental science to be no more than the term 
implies. For all the practical ideas centering 
about "thought" as the motive power are set 
forth in that book. Disease is traced to an er- 
roneous or morbid idea, associated with similar 
ideas and tending in a wrong direction of mind. 
Its cure is found in breaking up this association, 
establishing a new direction of mind. The dis- 
ease is then said to disappear, for "that which 
is not in thought has to us no existence." * The 

iP. 251. 



The Mental Science Period 149 

doctrine of a "healing power of thought. . . is 
based on the Hegelian principle that thought is 
a creative force. 1 Mr. Evans employs the term 
"suggestion" in the sense of an ideal picture, and 
so leads the way to Mr. Henry Wood's theory 
of "ideal suggestion through mental photog- 
raphy." He says that "thoughts are things" 
and hence lays the foundation for Prentice Mul- 
ford's teaching with this proposition as its lead- 
ing one. 2 Thus he is the forerunner in varied 
ways of the New Thought. 

If, however, one should read more deeply one 
would find the spiritual clue and regard the men- 
tal as secondary to the spiritual science, and see 
the full value of the mental-science period ; hence 
the larger sources of the New Thought. Mr. 
Evans says, for example, "The spiritual physi- 
cian, or one who heals the body by touching the 
springs of life in the soul of the patient, should 
speak and act from the Divine realm of his being, 
as did Jesus the Christ. 'The words that I 
speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the 
Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the 
works.' . . . The real Christ is to be sought 
within, where alone he can be found . . . God's 
creative thought always cooperates with ours in 
every curative endeavor of our minds ... In 

i P. 258. 

2 Mr. Mulford's pamphlets formerly had a wide circulation. 



150 The New Thought Movement 

us the Word is made flesh and still dwells among 
us, for it is our life, and that life is the light of 
men . . . This Word dwells in every man as the 
light of life, and invests us with a creative po- 
tency, for all things are made by it. It is God's 
Thought, and when our minds are in unison with 
it in our struggle with disease, we are invested 
with a fraction of God's omnipotence ... If, 
in the effort to cure disease, I can find how God 
is doing it, and conform my healing endeavor 
to the Divine method, I come into line with 
Him ... I can conform my effort to the Divine 
creative Thought." x 

When, therefore, Mr. Evans uses the term 
"thought" in its higher sense he means "the 
Divine creative Thought," and this usage is the 
one he has in mind in his idealistic interpreta- 
tion of the universe. If one keeps this fact in 
mind one may avoid all superficial interpreta- 
tions of this book and of mental science. But 
for the most part Mr. Evans employs the term 
in its human sense, and here one must always 
guard against ambiguity. He explains that by 
saying "thoughts are things" he means that they 
are "substantial realities," also "transmissible 
entities;" that "thought and existence are iden- 
tical." Thoughts have great power over other 
minds because they can be transmitted directly. 

i Pp. 256, 262, 265, 267. 



The Mental Science Period 151 

"A word, an uttered sentence, into which is con- 
centrated the soul-life and heart-life of him who 
pronounces it, and which is animated by a Divine 
thought, a living truth, has in it a healing virtue 
above anything in a material drug." x This 
vitalizing thought is what Evans called a "sug- 
gestion" as applied to various parts of our na- 
ture or the body, needing relief from pain. 
"The thought of a thing is a spiritual touch or 
contact with it — it is an ideal and real creation 
of it." 2 It is this "ideal suggestion," as Mr. 
Wood called it, which breaks up the old associa- 
tion and establishes the new one. "The new as- 
sociation becomes the means of the . . . forget- 
fulness, of the disease; and in proportion as a 
disease is out of thought, or we become oblivious 
of it, it is cured." What we need to overcome 
is our fixed, morbid ways of thinking. Disease 
in its spiritual root is "the fixedness of an idea." 
It must be supplanted by the thought of a state 
of health. "This, by a law of correspondence, 
will tend to actualize itself." What we need, 
in brief, is a "new mode of thinking." 

i Pp. 274, 278, 280. 
2 P. 286. 



\r~ 



/, 



VII 

THE NEW THOUGHT 

The term New Thought is more comprehen- 
sive than any other that has been applied to the 
mental-healing movement. The term itself has 
often been criticized, and some attempts have 
been made to give it up. It has come to stay, 
however, and may well be accepted in the widely 
representative sense in which it is at present em- 
ployed. Like other terms, it had a natural his- 
tory implying changes in human interests. 
From the first the mental-healing movement was 
a protest against old beliefs and methods, par- 
ticularly the old-school medical practice and the 
old theology. Quimby set the example in this 
direction and his followers continued the protest. 
Evans believed that Swedenborg was the "mes- 
senger" of a new age, and he saw in Quimby 's 
teaching an expression of a new spiritual 
philosophy of life resembling Swedenborg's 
doctrine on its practical side. 1 Later, he em- 
phasized the rebirth ^f idealism as an expression 
of the new age, pointing out the need for a "new 
mode of thought." Another devotee of Swed- 

i The New Age and Its Messenger, 1864; The Mental Cure, 1869. 

152 



The New Thought 153 

enborg, Dr. Holcombe, was the first writer in 
the mental-science period to employ the term 
"New Thought," capitalized, to designate the 
new teaching in the sense in which the term 
is now used. In his pamphlet, Condensed 
Thoughts about Christian Science, 1889, Dr. 
Holcombe says, "New Thought always excites 
combat in the mind with old thought, which re- 
fuses to retire." 

There is no line of demarkation, then, be- 
tween the earlier terms and "New Thought." 
Nor can one say that mental science abruptly 
ceases and New Thought begins. After 1890, 
devotees of mental healing acquired the habit of 
speaking of the new teaching as "this thought" 
in contrast with the old theology. Thus in time 
the term came into vogue in place of mental 
science, and writers like Dr. Holcombe began 
to give up using the term "Christian Science" 
when they wished to show that they did not mean 
Eddyism. Then in 1894 the name "New 
Thought" was chosen as the title of a little mag- 
azine devoted to mental healing, published in 
Melrose, Mass. 1 The term became current in 
Boston through the organization of the Meta- 
physical Club, in 1895. At about the same time 
it was used by Mr. C. B. Patterson in his mag- 
azine, Mind, New York, and in the titles of two 

i See Spirit of the New Thought, p. 1. 



154 The New Thought Movement 

of his books, New Thought Essays and What is 
the New Thought? x Henry Wood also used the 
term in the title of his New Thought Simplified, 
Later, a magazine bearing the name New 
Thought was issued in Chicago. W. W. At- 
kinson also gave popularity to the term in his 
New Thought Magazine, since named Advanced 
Thought. 2 

In England the term Higher Thought was 
preferred at first, and this name was chosen for 
the Higher Thought Centre, the first organiza- 
tion of its kind in England. This name did not, 
however, represent a change in point of view, 
and the movement in England has been similar 
to the therapeutic movement elsewhere. The 
term mental science was employed by Judge 
Troward in the title of one of the earlier books 
widely read in England and the United States, 
The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science. 
The term Higher Thought was also adopted as 
the name of a periodical issued for a time in Wis- 
consin. In Boston the name Higher Life was 
chosen for the first New Thought church. The 
name Circle of Divine Ministry came into vogue 
in New York City and in Brooklyn, to desig- 
nate a centre devoted to mental healing, lec- 

iSee, also, The Arena, Jan. 1901, "What the New Thought 
Stands For." 

2 Note, also, The Heart of the New Thought, by Ella Wheeler 
Wilcox, Chicago, 1902. 



The New Thought 155 

tures, silences, lending libraries, and social gath- 
erings of people interested in the movement. 
This name later gave place to New Thought 
Centre and was practically the equivalent of the 
name, Home of Truth, as employed in Cali- 
fornia by Mrs. Militz. 

In the West, notably in Denver and San Fran- 
cisco, the accepted name for several years was 
Divine Science. This term originally stood for 
a modified or reformed Christian Science, with 
certain points of resemblance and some contrasts 
with the term New Thought as used in Boston 
and elsewhere. The peculiarities disappeared 
after a time, and this term as recently employed 
by Rev. W. John Murray, author of The Astor 
Lectures, New York, 1917, editor of The 
Gleaner, and leader of Sunday services in New 
York and Philadelphia, is now a synonym of 
New Thought. Mr. Murray has popularized the 
expression, "The New Thought of Man, The 
Larger Thought of God." 

In Kansas City, the name Practical Christi- 
anity came in time to stand for the whole branch 
of the movement under the leadership of The 
Society of Silent Unity and the Unity School 
of Christianity. This is perhaps the best of all 
terms for the movement on its spiritual side. 
This name might be applied, for example, to 
the movement originating in the West and using 



156 The New Thought Movement 

the term Home of Truth. It is preferable to 
the name metaphysical healing, a term which 
has stood for a more abstruse interpretation of 
the movement. The term metaphysics, strictly 
speaking, applies to a technical system of phi- 
losophy, and only by explanation is it to be un- 
derstood as the name of a practical movement. 

By common consent, the term New Thought 
has been more and more used to designate the 
entire mental-healing movement, including those 
phases of it, such as Practical Christianity in 
Kansas City, to which the term was not originally 
applied, and even though objections to the term 
have been made. By the term, New Thought, 
therefore, we understand all phases of the men- 
tal-healing movement, including "reformed 
Christian Science" and Divine Science. 

The early writers and teachers looked to the 
same sources as those of the mental-science 
period. Some began with Christian Science, 
then branched out freely, adopting their own 
terms, and teaching classes. Their students in 
turn began to teach and to found little centres 
of their own. In the course of time, teachers 
and students tended in the common direction 
since known as New Thought, and so unity came 
about. Others owed their impetus to a mental- 
science healer and the reading of books on men- 
tal science and Prentice Mulford's pamphlets. 



The New Thought 157 

A common idealistic basis was later discovered 
through acquaintance with leaders who had re- 
acted against Christian Science, and so again 
there was a tendency towards unity. 

The newer writers were not ordinarily so well 
informed as Mr. Evans and Mr. Barrows, and 
they did not indicate the sources of their ideas. 
Thus it became customary for any writer to set 
forth the New Thought as he apprehended it 
without reference to mental science and its fore- 
runners. This neglect of the courtesy usually 
shown by one writer to others may be explained 
by the fact that these writers wished to avoid 
any special claims such as those put forward by 
the author of Science and Health, and because 
it was generally believed that any one could de- 
velop the therapeutic ideas for himself. As a 
result, however, it is difficult to give the natural 
history of books on the New Thought. The 
reader is often left with the impression that the 
author claims to have discovered all the contents 
of his book. The general public is sometimes 
mystified, too. Thus when the death of Mr. 
Patterson occurred, the New York papers re- 
ferred to him as "the founder of the New 
Thought movement in America," although his 
work did not begin until 1887, and although he 
shared with others his pioneer work in Hartford 
and New York. Again, writers like Henry 



158 The New Thought Movement 

Wood and Ralph Waldo Trine, who had not 
been mental healers or teachers but who were 
interested to make their own expression of the 
ideas passing current, also came into the field. 
The work of such writers is partly explained 
by what went before. Hence we may presup- 
pose the mental-science period. But these 
writers also contributed to the movement. Thus 
new variations of the general teaching were all 
the time appearing, and the movement itself 
passed through several changes. 

In contrast with the mental-science period, the 
writers who restated the New Thought at the 
time the organizations were coming into being 
gave attention to psychological principles then 
in vogue, and the terms "subconscious mind" 
and "suggestion" became widely popular. 
Hence the practical teachings became more in- 
telligible, and the general public was less in- 
clined to ridicule mental healing. More effort 
was made to trace out the psychological factors 
of the silent treatment. More use was made of 
the idea of affirmations and denials adopted for 
the sake of making the general principles directly 
practical. Thus suggestion or affirmation came 
to be recognized as the common factor in all 
types of mental healing. 

There was still a tendency to use rather ab- 



The New Thought 159 

struse terminology, borrowed from Christian 
Science or developed by the early leaders of 
Divine Science. Thus God was still referred 
to impersonally as "Principle/' and vague state- 
ments were made concerning the identity of God 
"with all being," statements which if taken 
literally implied pantheism or mysticism. This 
habit grew out of the effort to formulate a 
"science of sciences" or "science of Being" to 
take the place of Christian Science. It fostered 
speculation, and implied an aloofness from the 
world of fact, a tendency to overlook the lessons 
of experience. The affirmations or suggestions 
were often based on this "metaphysical" science, 
instead of on the concrete principles of the Chris- 
tian life. Although the teachers of this type of 
mental-healing theory frequently quoted the 
Bible and interpreted it in Sunday-school les- 
sons, they made no use of the directly practical 
clue to the "science of life and happiness" which 
Mr. Quimby saw in the teachings of Jesus. But 
this tendency to abstractions has been waning. 
The practical values of New Thought have sur- 
vived, and in time the abstruse "science of 
Being" will disappear. 

In contrast with the mental-science period, 
there was also a strong tendency to individual- 
ism which made it difficult to organize the New 



160 The New Thought Movement 

Thought as a national movement. This was 
partly due to the fact that some of the leaders 
emulated Mrs. Eddy and drew a little circle of 
followers around them, with their own magazines, 
their own books, and organizations; and partly 
to the fact that the New Thought was a protest 
against authority. The reaction had to be rad- 
ical to be effective. Some of the leaders per- 
sisted in their radical independence to the end. 
Others yielded for the sake of cooperation and 
the promulgation of the general principles. The 
effort to organize the movement as a whole was 
at one time almost halted by this individualism. 
But the radicalism was overcome, the National 
New Thought Alliance became duly recognized 
and the harmonious national organization became 
international. 

Again, an element of optimism was introduced. 
This belief in the goodness of life, the emphasis 
on and quest for the good in all things was im- 
plicit in the movement from the beginning. But 
the newer writers brought out this faith more 
clearly and made optimism a prominent element 
of the New Thought. The "old thought" was 
undeniably pessimistic, it dwelt on sin, em- 
phasized the darkness and misery of the world, 
the distress and the suffering. The new dwelt 
on life and light, pointing the way to the mastery 
of all sorrow and suffering. This optimism has 



The New Thought 161 

since been one of the most characteristic features 
of the New Thought. 1 

The quest for freedom also became more ex- 
plicit. The old theology held man in bondage. 
Conventional society was in many respects an 
obstacle. Too much stress had been placed on 
heredity and environment, so the New-Thought 
writers contended. Man is by divine purpose, 
by birth, and his true human inheritance, free. 
He must come forth and "claim his freedom," 
the true freedom of his inner or spiritual nature. 
He should take his clue from the ideal, not from 
the actualities of his natural existence. He 
should rely on himself, develop his inner pow- 
ers, believe in his own experiences and intuitions. 
This thought was frequently expressed in two 
periodicals widely popular at one time, Freedom, 
edited by Helen Wilmans, and Eleanor Kirk's 
Idea, edited by Mrs. Ames. 

A new emphasis was put on "the law of at- 
traction." It was pointed out that just as dis- 
ease in its physical expression corresponds to the 
inner state which caused it, so in general man's 
outward conditions express the inward life. 
The inner state was regarded as the centre of at- 
traction, drawing its like. To change or im- 
prove one's conditions, one must then change the 

i See Handbook of the New Thought, p. 10; The Spirit of the 
New Thought, p. 137. 



162 The New Thought Movement 

inner centre, adopt a different attitude, make 
other and better affirmations, look out on life 
with more optimistic expectations. This em- 
phasis on inward attraction also implied the be- 
lief that what we attract we need, that what 
comes we should accept with the realization that 
it is for our good. This was another way of say- 
ing "all is good." 1 

Implied in this principle of attraction and 
essentially one with it is the belief in mental at- 
titudes as fundamental. One should become 
aware that life is to a large extent what we make 
it by our attitude toward it. Learning how we 
have generated our ills and created our misery, 
we should profit by the lesson, turn about and 
adopt an attitude making for success. We 
should not only anticipate the good, look for 
success, a long and happy life ; but actively adopt 
an attitude habitually making for health, free- 
dom, prosperity. If we fail in life, our own at- 
titude is at fault. When we succeed, it is be- 
cause our attitude was affirmative. We may 
adopt whatever attitude we will. The future 
is in our hands, so the New-Thought leaders as- 
sure us. 2 

Again, the word "realization" came into vogue 
to signify the method by which affirmations were 

i See Spiritual and Mental A ttraction, by Eugene Del Mar. 
2 See, for example, Mrs. Gestefeld's How We Master Our Fate. 



The New Thought 163 

to be made effective, that they might give an 
impetus to the subconscious mind, might gener- 
ate an attitude making for success. To idealize 
is not merely to repeat a formula but to make 
it your own, enter into it vividly, dynamically, 
productively. To realize the value of an affirm- 
ation is to grasp the implied truth or law, to 
think it out, enter into its spirit, assimilate its 
life. This is partly accomplished through rea- 
soning, partly through silence or meditation. To 
"enter the silence" thus became the favorite ex- 
pression among disciples of the New Thought. 1 
To carry out the above principles is, in brief, 
to realize the superiority of the spirit over the 
flesh, to triumph over circumstance, agreeing 
with Emerson that "the soul makes circum- 
stance." Just how this shall be done will de- 
pend of course upon the individual. If one 
starts with some of the abstractions mentioned 
above, one may try to "demonstrate" in a way at 
variance with fact and with the world. 2 That 
is, one may try to affirm ideas which have no 
connection with reality. In this case there will 
be a fall from the heights of theory, as in the 
case of so many who have ceased to become Chris- 
tian Scientists and have gradually rediscovered 
the world. But if one starts with the given 

i See Lessons in Truth, by Emilie Cady, p. 111. 
2 Handbook of the New Thought, p. 146. 



164 The New Thought Movement 

spiritual situation in which one is placed, inter- 
preted in the light of what one believes to be the 
divine ideal, then one may learn that the process 
of triumphing over the flesh is already in oper- 
ation. Thus when Henry Wood says, "Pain is 
friendly," he means that one may transfer one's 
attention by entering into the benefits, the good 
implied in the present experience, and so rise 
above the pain, overcome it, show the triumph- 
ant power of the spirit. Very much depends, 
therefore, upon one's way of taking this en- 
deavor to "demonstrate over" circumstance. 

Much also depends upon the conception of the 
inner or higher self, for the claims in its behalf 
depend upon the type of the individual making 
the affirmation. Mr. Wood makes clear the im- 
plied principles as generally accepted by disciples 
of the New Thought in a paper read before the 
Metaphysical Club, entitled, "To What Extent 
is Self -Healing Practicable?" Mr. Wood says, 
"A thought in any direction makes it easier for 
the next one to follow it. Like a meadow brook, 
thinking wears channels. When concentrated, it 
wears them rapidly. The nature of faith would 
be plainer, if it were defined as the firm affirma- 
tion of ideas. We need not be discouraged if 
the resolvent power of thought does not at once 
melt down the solidified walls of man-made limi- 
tation which ages have erected. It is everything 



The New Thought 165 

to find the principle, and make a start in the 
right direction. Every true mental healer will 
gladly welcome the time when all so recognize 
the divinity within that no aid from without is 
needed. He does not claim to heal, except by 
helping to put the right occupant upon the 
throne. He helps his brother to help himself. 
He will tell you that normal healing is self-heal- 
ing, or rather consists in the attainment of a con- 
dition where there is harmony with environment. 
The time is to be hastened when every one shall 
know, not only the objective Lord, but the 
divinity that is within him. The supreme heal- 
ing consciousness is that of a felt oneness with 
the Universal Omnipotent Spirit. 

"What about practical exercises, and how 
shall one begin? Erect a mental gymnasium, 
and utilize every silent and unoccupied hour, 
whether of day or night, when awake, in swing- 
ing the dumb bells of concentration upon high 
ideals. Affirm their presence now, though they 
are not yet in visible expression. Remember 
that thought leads and manifestation follows, so 
such an order is perfectly logical and scientific. 
Turn about and face physical sensation, as a 
mental habit, until it is measurably vanquished, 
instead of tamely falling before it. ^ 

"The real fall of man consists in his servitude 
to his own morbid creations. Did God ever * 



166 The New Thought Movement 

create disease? But even disorder and pain, 
when rightly interpreted, may be regarded as 
only spectres that prowl in the basement of our 
own nature to drive us higher. 

"Having shut the door of your unseen gym- 
nasium against the outer world, in the name of 
your divine sonship claim all good as present 
and filling you. Such a habit soon begins to 
color the e very-day consciousness. May I hint 
at a few ideals as suggestive, in the first person 
singular, and say that repetition is the law which 
makes them graphic. 

"I am soul and spirit. 

"I am at one with the Universal Good. 

c 'Harmony, love, strength and wholeness are 
with and in me. 

"I rule the body and delight in it as a holy 
temple. 

"I rightfully claim the control of all my pow- 
ers, mental and physical. 

"Another ideal: I love everybody. Note the 
fact, that antagonism is worse than malaria. 

"If such claims were made in the name of the 
lower and detached selfhood, it would seem pre- 
sumptuous, but their very object is to identify 
the conscious ego with the higher and divine self- 
hood. 1 On that plane there can be no exclusive- 
ness or selfishness. Unlimited good belongs not 

i Quimby's term was "the scientific man." 



The New Thought 167 

only to all, but to each. In that delectable at- 
mosphere every one owns everything." * 

We may regard the writings of Henry Wood 
as representative of the more rational expression 
of the New Thought. 2 Mr. Wood's books were 
widely read at the time the New Thought was 
emerging from the mental-science period. He 
was one of the first writers to take up the sub- 
ject because of personal interest in mental heal- 
ing, in contrast with interests in the world of af- 
fairs. After a successful career in business in 
early life, Mr. Wood suffered from a nervous 
breakdown and was pronounced incurable by the 
best physicians. Treated with success by several 
mental healers, he became deeply interested in 
studying the implied principles and methods. 
Accordingly, he gave up other pursuits and de- 
voted the remainder of his life, during twenty 
years, to spreading the new ideas by means of 
his books and through the financial aid which he 
gave to the societies and publications devoted to 
mental healing. 

Mr. Wood may in fact be called the first New- 
Thought philanthropist. Saying, "I have found 
something which the world needs and I must 
give it out," he began to publish books on the 

i Journal of Practical Metaphysics, April, 1897. 
2 See, especially, Mr. Wood's statement concerning the move- 
ment, The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 17. 



168 The New Thought Movement 

subject shortly after he had proved the prin- 
ciples for himself. He gave his books very 
freely to libraries and to people who might per- 
chance take an interest in them. He encouraged 
editors and publishers of magazines devoted to 
the subject by subscribing liberally and distribut- 
ing copies of the newer periodicals. He also 
wrote a great many letters in answer to questions 
addressed to him by readers of his books, sug- 
gesting in each case that these inquirers try the 
new method for themselves. 

Mr. Wood worked actively in this kind of pro- 
pagandism until his death, which occurred March 
28, 1909. He was the first to take the lead in 
spreading the new ideas through publicity, in 
contrast with the work of healing and teaching 
classes, as carried on by leaders who had not felt 
the impulse to spread the movement and organ- 
ize it. He was also the first to adopt fiction as 
an added means of reaching the public, and in 
his Edward Burton and Victor Serenus, 1 stories 
with a purpose, he tried to interest a much wider 
public in the new therapeutic ideas. To his 
efforts more than to the work of any other leader 
may be attributed the success of the first New 
Thought organization in Boston. 

i This book was dramatized and given a performance in a Bos- 
ton theatre. The play was not, however, a success. It was prob- 
ably the first New-Thought drama. 



The New Thought 169 

Mr. Wood was fond of saying that when the 
possibilities of mankind were in a measure real- 
ized, each man would be his own priest and phy- 
sician. Deeply religious by nature, he lived ac- 
cording to his theory that the individual has a 
right to maintain priestly relations with his God 
without ministerial agency. Shortly before his 
death, in response to his wife's suggestion that 
he might possibly desire the presence of a clergy- 
man, he said, "I need no intermediary." His 
publishers say of him, "He passed away as he 
had lived, honorably, reverently, and peace- 
fully." 

Mr. R. C. Douglass, himself a New Thought 
leader, well acquainted with most of the leaders 
of the movement in recent years, says of him, 
"Among New-Thought writers he stands as a 
distinctly representative man, whose reasoning is 
always characterized by fairness, and comes from 
a heart of integrity. Like a true philosopher, he 
is always dealing with principles ... I have be- 
fore me his book entitled, The New Old Healing. 
Here he is dealing only with principles, which 
underlie all spiritual healing, showing that 
health, happiness and prosperity are the fruit of 
a well-balanced scientific mentality. He would 
have men understand that healing is merely the 
adjustment of the mentality to principles of 
truth. This is what constitutes a man a prophet. 



170 The New Thought Movement 

"Most truly we live at the dawning of a 
philosophic age, and Henry Wood is a prophet 
heralding its coming. . . . He makes it clear 
that the teachings of Jesus Christ and his won- 
derful healings rest on the fundamental basis 
of a spiritual philosophy. The clear province 
of the New Thought school of writers and teach- 
ers is not the abrogation of any Christian prin- 
ciples, but rather to give a better interpretation 
of those principles, consonant with truth, right- 
eousness and health . . . That man is a noble 
spiritual being may be set down as Mr. Wood's 
major premise." 

Mr. Wood did not claim originality for any 
of his views, but called the attention of his read- 
ers to their own resources, especially to intuition 
as the power of realizing the divine presence and 
attaining truth in one's own right. Most of the 
leading books on mental science were published 
before his Ideal Suggestion, Boston, 1894, and 
on these he was dependent to some extent, al- 
though using his own terms and putting the mat- 
ter as it appealed directly to him. He once told 
me that the first great thought that came to him, 
as a means of verifying the therapeutic principle 
for himself was the affirmation, "God is here." 
That electrical sentence disclosed a new world 
for him. Profiting by its power over him, and 
seeing the advantage of concentration upon a 



The New Thought 171 

single definite thought, he wrote his book, which 
consisted of preliminary chapters explaining the 
therapeutic principles ; and then a series of pages 
with an "ideal suggestion" in large type on the 
left-hand page and an explanatory paragraph 
on the opposite page. "God is here" was one of 
these affirmations. "Pain is friendly," another. 
Each was calculated to impress a helpful thought 
on the mind through silent realization or spirit- 
ual meditation. 

Later, Mr. Wood carried out the same idea 
by establishing a room under the auspices of the 
Metaphysical Club of Boston known as the 
"silence room," where one could sit "in quietness 
and confidence" contemplating a painting on the 
opposite wall symbolizing spiritual truth, with 
various ideal suggestions to be chosen by the 
devotee according to need. Mr. Wood brought 
forward his book on ideal suggestion at the op- 
portune moment. Suggestion was becoming a 
magic word, soon to be very popular and to be 
adopted even by the scientific psychologists, al- 
ways conservative when it is a question of any 
gift made by mental therapeutists. The word 
"ideal" was coming to have new significance in 
view of what Evans and other leaders in the men- 
tal-science period had said. Mr. Wood happily 
combined the two words and gave the New 
Thought a more definite turn. In his New 



172 The New Thought Movement 

Thought Simplified, published several years 
later, Mr. Wood made further application of the 
same principle. The leaders of the Unity move- 
ment in Kansas City made great use of the same 
idea, and for many years an ideal suggestion has 
been printed on a page by itself in Unity. The 
custom of holding meetings for meditation at 
noon became general throughout the mental- 
healing world. 

The writings of Emilie Cady, especially 
Finding the Christ in Ourselves and Lessons in 
Truth, published by the Unity group, Kansas 
City, should be mentioned as among the books 
most widely read when the New Thought was 
taking shape in its present form. Thought, 
later called Unity, and The Life, edited by A. 
P. Barton, Kansas City, were among the most 
widely read magazines. Mrs. Helen Van-An- 
derson's The Right Knock, and The Journal of 
a Live Woman, belong with the influential books 
of that period. Among Mr. Whipple's books 
The Philosophy of Mental Healing was best 
known. Mr. Trine's influence on the movement 
dates from the publication of his first book, 
What All the World's A-seeking, 1896. 

It can hardly be said that the writers of this 
period were original in the sense in which orig- 
inality is usually understood. Coming after the 
period when the mental-healing ideas had begun 



The New Thought 173 

to be popular, and when the newer psychology 
was becoming widely known, their part was to 
restate mental science in their own way, to make 
it popular, and to show its application in mani- 
fold directions. Out of their efforts came the 
first organizations and the first churches. They 
were among the best of the New-Thought lead- 
ers and their work led the way to the national 
movement and the International New Thought 
Alliance. 1 

i On the general significance of the New Thought movement, see 
Mr. Chesley's essay in The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 37. 
The essay by Miss Nannie S. Bond, p. 135, is from the point of 
view of a patient. On the New Thought today, see the summary, 
p. 241. The Handbook of the New Thought, New York, 1917, 
contains critical estimates of the movement. The Spirit of the 
New Thought contains an historical bibliography. Nautilus, edited 
by Elizabeth Towne, Holyoke, Mass., contains lists of books from 
time to time, also news items from the various societies and 
centres. Master Mind, edited by Mrs. Militz, Los Angeles, Cal., 
contains the news of the month in Homes of Truth and other 
New Thought organizations. 



VIII 

THE FIRST ORGANIZATIONS 

The first New-Thought society with a regu- 
lar leader and organization, in Boston, was the 
Church of the Higher Life, which was the out- 
growth of a small beginning in Sunday services 
started by Mrs. Helen Van- Anderson in Feb- 
ruary, 1894. The object of these services, in 
Mrs. Van-Anderson's words, was "to form a 
centre where words of cheer and friendly fel- 
lowship might be given and exchanged; also to 
make definite statements concerning Life Prin- 
ciples and their application to character and 
health building. This was the gospel preached 
and practised by every one so far as he or she 
understood. It was indeed glad tidings, and 
the joy of imparting was only equalled by the 
joy of receiving. From the little hall it was 
soon necessary to move into a large one, and 
from that to a still larger, Allen Hall, 44 St. 
Botolph Street. Seemingly without effort but 
with a strong impetus from earnest hearts, the 
little stream of influence has widened its banks 
and deepened its current, until it is now plainly 
on its way to the Great Sea. 

174 



The First Organizations 175 

"The Church of the Higher Life, as its name 
implies, stands for exalted living — that living 
which emanates from an earnest aspiration to 
know and do; to know the best there is to know, 
of God, humanity, the soul, the mind, the body 
— in short, of Life and how to live. This Church 
has no formulated creed. It leaves every one 
to formulate his own. Its central and basic pre- 
cept is that of the Great Master: 'Love is the ful- 
filling of the Law.' Its heart is warm, its vision 
open, its motive pure, its hospitality broad, its 
fellowship universal. Its enthusiastic members 
are many; their work is rich with the spirit of 
altruism and noble self -giving. It has a corps 
of fifty-two letter writers who volunteer to write 
cheerful words to invalids in distant homes or to 
any who for other reasons are shut in from fel- 
lowship with the outside world. These writers 
also send literature that will comfort, instruct 
and inspire such as need or desire the postoffice 
ministry. It has a flourishing Young People's 
Club called 'The Arkeso' (from the Greek, to 
assist) whose mission is to carry good cheer into 
hospitals, reformatories or private homes, and in 
every way possible, proffer an assisting hand 
and heart wherever they may be needed. It has 
a Benevolent Committee whose members carry 
the gospel of health and wealth to the poor and 
sick of their own community, and wherever else 



176 The New Thought Movement 

they are called. It has an Emerson Study Club, 
where teachers, preachers and students may find 
many a hard life-problem solved in the light of 
Emerson's philosophy and far-reaching insight. 
It has mothers' meetings where all questions 
pertaining to home and child government and 
education are freely discussed and expounded. 
It has spiritual training classes wherein there 
is a heartfelt exchange of profound experiences 
and the most earnest abandonment to thoughts 
and methods that will promote spiritual unfold- 
ment. It has a healing service every Sunday 
for the benefit of those far or near who may de- 
sire its healing potency." 1 

After a number of years Mrs. Van- Anderson 
resigned to begin similar work in other cities. 
Different speakers were engaged from Sunday 
to Sunday during two years, and later Rev. Lucy 
C. McGee became the minister. The organiza- 
tion, at present without a permanent leader, still 
exists, although its activities are limited to the 
Sunday services. This church is interesting to 
devotees of the New Thought since it was the 
first society of its kind, although having much 
in common with similar organizations that had 
an independent origin in the West and Middle 
West. 

In the summer of 1894, Miss Sarah J. Farmer 

i Journal of Practical Metaphysics, Dec, 1896. 



The First Organizations 177 

established at Eliot, Maine, the Greenacre Con- 
ferences. The conferences were established for 
the most part to promote interest in the great 
religions of the world, in accordance with the 
interest aroused at the World's Parliament of 
Religions, held in Chicago during the World's 
Fair, 1893. But their founder was deeply inter- 
ested in the New Thought and was known as a 
leader of the movement. Greenacre naturally 
became the centre in the summer for those who 
were active in the New-Thought gatherings in 
Boston and New York during the winter. 
Many of the mental-healing leaders from differ- 
ent parts of the country were heard at Green- 
acre, and Miss Farmer's conferences set the ex- 
ample for New-Thought meetings held elsewhere 
during the summer, notably the Jackson Lec- 
tures, organized by Henry Wood and other 
leaders at Jackson, N. H., in 1896; and at Osca- 
wana, N. Y., where conferences were established 
by Mr. Patterson and other leaders. 

At least a week was devoted to the New 
Thought each year at Greenacre, and in addition 
to the regular lectures smaller meetings or Sun- 
day afternoon sessions in the large tent were led 
by New-Thought speakers. On the camping 
ground, known as Sunrise Camp, disciples of the 
New Thought were located for the season, un- 
der the leadership of Mr. Frederick Reed, later 



178 The New Thought Movement 

secretary of the Metaphysical Club. During 
the summer of 1897 there was established a de- 
partment of the conferences holding regular 
sessions throughout the season and known as 
The School of Applied Metaphysics. The 
teachers were Miss Ellen M. Dyer, the pioneer 
New-Thought teacher and healer in Philadel- 
phia, 1 and Horatio W. Dresser, chairman. In 
1898 this department was given up in favor of 
class-work by various leaders. 

Greenacre continued to be a leading New- 
Thought centre for several seasons. A number 
of the authors, notably Henry Wood and Mr. 
Trine, spent a portion of the summer there, and 
owed their growing interest in the direction of 
the New Thought partly to Miss Farmer's lead- 
ership. Morning meditation meetings were 
held by followers of the New Thought. Those 
meetings were among the best that have ever 
been held and gave the impetus to establish 
similar work elsewhere. Miss Farmer's spirit 
in her stronger years did much to establish people 
in a broadly tolerant way of thinking. Green- 
acre stood for the constructive spirit. Those 
who caught this spirit endeavored to make the 
New Thought no less broad, tolerant and con- 
structive. Some of the leaders who took the 
initiative in organizing the Metaphysical Club 

i See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 97. 



The First Organizations 179 

gained their larger impetus from these confer- 
ences. 

As indicated in her paper on "The Abundant 
Life," 1 Miss Farmer approached the New 
Thought on its spiritual side. To her it was the 
same as Christianity at its best, also the same as 
the spirit which she found expressed by the 
Swamis who came from India to expound the 
Vedanta philosophy. Both Miss Farmer and 
the Swamis spoke in New-Thought gatherings 
during the winter. This was the beginning of a 
common interest which endured for a number of 
years. Miss Farmer held that each speaker at 
Greenacre should have full and free hearing if 
he did not assail any other speaker. Hence the 
New Thought found expression, and the medi- 
tation meetings led by its devotees had direct in- 
fluence upon the religious development of the 
mental-healing movement in later years. Green- 
acre continued to be a New-Thought centre in 
part until its founder espoused Bahaism and 
other teachings not so directly connected with 
the New Thought. 

The first New-Thought society organized in 
Boston in 1894-'95 as a result of Greenacre was 
called The Procopeia, with headquarters at 200 
Huntington Avenue. The general announce- 
ment of this society was as follows: "It is not 

i See The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 29. 



180 The New Thought Movement 

limited by any creed or dogma, either religious, 
ethical, or philosophical, but endeavors to seek 
and to give to its members the truth, wherever 
it may be found . . . By the recognition of the 
divinity of every human soul, and a belief in the 
unlimited possibilities of mankind through the 
understanding of truth and the love of good, we 
believe we shall be able to push forward and to 
progress. It is the aim of the Procopeia to pro- 
vide suitable headquarters in Boston where the 
ablest leaders of progressive thought may have a 
responsive and sympathetic hearing, and where 
members of the Club may find inspiration and 
courage for the practical affairs of life." This 
society was short-lived and its members event- 
ually joined the Metaphysical Club, organized a 
few weeks later. 

The organizing of the Metaphysical Club was 
the chief event in the history of the New 
Thought in Boston. The Club brought together 
some of the leaders of the mental-science period, 
such as Dr. Winkley and Mr. E. M. Chesley, 
who had been active in the Church of the Divine 
Unity and The Mental Healing Monthly. It 
helped to bring into formulation the larger ten- 
dencies of the New Thought as expressed, for 
example, by Henry Wood, Mr. Patterson, Mr. 
Trine and others. It aroused public interest in 
mental healing on the part of people of liberal 



The First Organizations 181 

religious belief. It also gave expression in part 
to the Greenacre spirit. Out of its activities 
came in the course of time the national organ- 
ization and the international movement, in co- 
operation with leaders from New York and other 
cities. 

The mental-science meetings had come to an 
end, there was no magazine devoted to mental 
healing published in Boston, and there was need 
of further effort in spreading the New Thought 
at the time the Club was called into being. 
Realizing the need for such a society, several 
of the leaders new and old called a meeting in 
behalf of the New Thought movement at the 
home of Dr. J. W. Winkley, 108 Huntington 
Avenue, in January, 1895. Besides Dr. and 
Mrs. Winkley, there were present Henry Wood, 
Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, Mr. Warren A. Bod- 
man, Miss Catherine Hurd, Miss Elizabeth 
Hurd, Mr. Leonard Stone, and Mr. C. M. Bar- 
rows. Mr. Wood outlined a plan for organ- 
izing a metaphysical club, bringing forward 
cogent reasons for the existence of a society for 
the sake of popularizing the progressive thought 
of the day. 

The meeting adjourned without action to a 
date a week later, when the following were pres- 
ent in addition to those mentioned above, and 
with the exception of Messrs. Barrows and Stone: 



182 The New Thought Movement 

Miss Lillian Whiting, Miss Durgin, Miss Scott, 
Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin, Mr. and Mrs. E. M. 
Chesley, Mrs. J. A. Dresser, Horatio W. Dres- 
ser, Rev. Loren B. Macdonald, Miss G. P. 
Hayes, Mrs. L. P. Morrill, Mrs. Mary Burpee, 
and Mr. Frederick Reed. 

These people organized themselves into the 
Metaphysical Club of Boston, with the following 
officers: Rev. L. B. Macdonald, a Unitarian min- 
ister, president; Dr. J. W. Winkley, vice-presi- 
dent; Mr. Frederick Reed, of the Greenacre 
Conferences, secretary. The purpose of the 
Club was stated as follows: "To promote inter- 
est in and the practice of a true spiritual philos- 
ophy of life and happiness ; to show that through 
right thinking one's loftiest ideas may be 
brought into perfect realization; to advance the 
intelligent and systematic treatment of disease by 
mental methods." 

The first public lecture was delivered by Mrs. 
Julia Ward Howe, March 28, 1895. Other lec- 
tures were given by Rev. Minot J. Savage, Pro- 
fessor A. E. Dolbear, and Hamilton Wright 
Mabie; and four social functions were held be- 
fore the close of the season. The purpose of 
the first season was to attract and interest the 
public. Hence the lectures were of a general 
character and the speakers were well known in 
public life. It was not deemed wise to intro- 



The First Organizations 183 

duce the New Thought at first, but to lead grad- 
ually to it when the organization was well under 
way. 

This was the first permanent New-Thought 
Club, and it set the standard for such societies 
elsewhere. It was the first mental-healing so- 
ciety to put its special interests on a large basis 
with a view to reaching the world. It was the 
beginning of the activities which grew in the 
course of time into a world-wide movement. It 
led the way for the establishment of Centres, 
Circles, or other organizations with the same gen- 
eral interests in view, whatever the names at- 
tached to them. The fact that it came into ex- 
istence was a sign that the mental-healing move- 
ment had passed out of its preliminary or experi- 
mental stage and was assuming the general char- 
acteristics which it was to continue to possess. 
Not many speakers were ready at first to ex- 
tend the movement in the same way into other 
cities. But these were forthcoming in the course 
of time. Other societies sprang up in different 
parts of the country, on an independent basis. 
Other attempts were made to develop a national 
movement. But it was the movement which be- 
gan in Boston that eventually succeeded. Out 
of it grew the effort to form a permanent inter- 
national organization. 

Mr. Wood maintained that the Club should 



184 The New Thought Movement 

be democratic, that it might even dispense with 
a president, although it was deemed prudent to 
elect a president. Rev. Mr. Macdonald, the 
first president, had taken an active part in the 
mental-science gatherings several years before. 
Afterwards, presidents were chosen from those 
more actively identified with the New Thought. 
Mr. Warren A. Rodman succeeded Mr. Reed 
as secretary, and when the Club established 
headquarters, with a library and bookstore, Mr. 
Rodman was the member in regular attendance. 
With the opening of the season in the fall of 
1895, subjects directly pertaining to mental 
healing were introduced. Different leaders set 
forth the fundamental principles, as they under- 
stood them, and allied topics were introduced 
from time to time to show that these principles 
apply in various directions, not merely to mental 
healing but to social and religious questions. 
Occasionally there was a symposium led by four 
speakers on a subject such as this, "What is it 
that heals?" Sometimes a speaker of prom- 
inence was engaged, in order to attract the at- 
tention of the public. But the subjects bearing 
directly on the New Thought proved more in- 
teresting. 

In October, 1896, The Journal of Practical 
Metaphysics, Horatio W. Dresser, editor, was 
established to represent the Club and its larger 



The First Organizations 185 

interests. Many of the leading essays read be- 
fore the Club were published in the magazine, 
and its leading members were regular contribu- 
tors. Some of these papers have been gathered 
into a volume, The Spirit of the New Thought, 
New York, 1917, to indicate the scope and value 
of the New Thought at the time it was assuming 
more definite form. Other speakers, notably 
Mr. Wood, gathered their essays into volumes of 
their own. Some of the papers also appeared 
in Mind, published by Mr. C. B. Patterson, New 
York. Among other periodicals widely circu- 
lated among New Thought people in this its 
formative period should be mentioned Universal 
Truth, Chicago, and Harmony, San Francisco. 
The Club did not in the early years establish 
Sunday services, but the Church of the Higher 
Life met the need of all who desired a distinc- 
tive New-Thought service. In accordance with 
the democratic principles on which the Club was 
based, no leader was made prominent over 
others, and in the early years the Club was con- 
cerned with its main interests. In concentration 
there was strength in those years. The New 
Thought began to attract more attention as a re- 
sult of the Club's activities, and it became promi- 
nent enough to be adversely criticized. Some 
of these criticisms with Mr. Wood's answers are 
included in The Spirit of the New Thought. 



186 The New Thought Movement 

Efforts were made from time to time to state 
more definitely what the New Thought is and 
what it stands for. One of these statements, 
adopted as the official exposition of the main 
principles which the Club represented, is printed 
in full elsewhere. 1 

The statement of the purpose of the Club 
printed regularly in The Journal of Practical 
Metaphysics, reads as follows: "Organized to 
promote an active interest in a more spiritual 
philosophy and its practical application to hu- 
man life. Its spirit is broad, tolerant and con- 
structive, and its object an impartial search for 
truth. All who sympathize with these purposes, 
without regard to past or present affiliations of 
sect, party or system, are cordially invited to co- 
operate. " At the time this statement was drawn 
up the executive committee consisted of Henry 
Wood, Mrs. Mary E. T. Chapin, Horatio .W. 
Dresser, Miss Lilian Whiting, Walter B. 
Adams, Miss Sarah J. Farmer, Mrs. Mabel B. 
Tibbitts. Dr. Winkley was treasurer, and Mr. 
W. A. Rodman secretary. 

In another statement drawn up at this time, 
the following is given as the purpose of the Club : 
"The Metaphysical Club, while it has no dogma 
to urge and no sectarian basis to maintain, is 
doing a work which is positive and progressive. 

i The Spirit of the New Thought, p. 215. 



The First Organizations 187 

It seeks truth and the unity and harmony which 
come from the understanding of truth. It sees 
no rival in the field, because the success of every 
organization with allied aims is recognized as a 
triumph of the great principles for which the 
Club stands. It does not ignore the marked 
and helpful developments resulting from the 
scientific study of the physical world, but aims 
to discover and utilize the harmony of laws and 
action between it and the metaphysical. It 
seeks the spark of infinitude in the seemingly 
finite, and seeks to fan it into a blaze that shall 
be the light of the world. It is therefore striv- 
ing to bring into hearty cooperation all the in- 
dividual potencies that have tended toward the 
high end which it has in view, believing that thus 
a resistless impulse might be given to the develop- 
ment of life on the highest attainable plane." * 
It will be observed that this statement takes 
one out into the open, in contrast with the ten- 
dency of Mr. Evans's later subjectivism. In 
contrast with Christian Science, it admits the ex- 
istence of the natural world and sees value in the 
scientific study of nature. It implies the 
philosophy of evolution, spiritually interpreted. 
This acceptance of the law of evolution was char- 
acteristic of Mr. Wood, who was for the most 
part the author of the above statement. In this 

i Journal of Practical Metaphysics, October, 1896. 



188 The New Thought Movement 

acceptance the leaders of the Club concurred. 
Their type of New Thought is thus distinguished 
from that called Divine Science in so far as the 
latter denies that man ever learns or develops 
from experience. 

The essayists constantly offered correctives 
of the narrower type of thought prevailing 
among those who had reacted against Christian 
Science but were not yet wholly free. Thus Mr. 
Wood read a paper entitled "Our Bodies," in 
which he pointed the way to a larger way of 
thinking. In a paper entitled "Business and the 
Higher Life," Mr. Rodman applied the leading 
principles in still another direction. Mr. E. A. 
Pennock, a Quaker by persuasion and among 
the first of the Friends to adopt mental healing, 
brought forward a paper on "A Physical Basis 
for Righteousness," and in other essays con- 
nected the New Thought with current social 
problems. Mr. Pennock was at one time as- 
sociated with the Ben Adhem House, Boston, 
the first social settlement in this country in 
which devotees of the New Thought took a 
prominent part. 1 After the outbreak of the 
Spanish-American war, Mr. Wood contributed 
a paper on "War from the Metaphysical Stand- 
point." 2 

i See The Spirit of the New Thought, pp. 73, 103. 
2 Journal of Practical Metaphysics, September, 1898. 



The First Organizations 189 

The magazine which had represented the Club 
was merged in The Arena, Boston, with the is- 
sue for December, 1898; with Mr. Paul Tyner, 
a New-Thought writer, a's editor, and Horatio 
W. Dresser, associate editor. The first com- 
bined number contained an essay entitled "The 
New Thought," intended to interest a larger 
public. During the year 1899 The Arena was 
moved to New York, and it ceased to be a New- 
Thought periodical. Dr. J. W. Winkley edited 
and published Practical Ideals, 1900-1912, as the 
representative periodical of the Boston move- 
ment. 

Mr. Chesley, well informed in the history of 
thought, contributed various papers to the Club 
in which he traced the connection between its 
metaphysics and that of the past. Mr. Frank 
B. Sprague, author of Spiritual Consciousness, 
was a regular contributor to the magazines and 
to the meetings of the Club. Another leader 
who later became known as an author advocating 
a kind of modified Christian Science was Mr. 
Aaron M. Crane, author of Right and Wrong 
Thinking. Mr. C. B. Newcomb's All's Bight 
With the World should be mentioned as belong- 
ing to this period. 

The organization of the Metaphysical Club, 
then, marks the enlargement of the mental-heal- 
ing movement from the more local interests of 



190 The New Thought Movement 

mental science to the effort to extend the move- 
ment and make it national. Mental healing was 
still the chief interest. It was what gave the 
Club its being, and in the years when too many 
other subjects were introduced the Club was not 
so successful. The New Thought came directly 
from mental science, and hence it is explicable by 
the movement which went before and which 
dated from Quimby's pioneer work in Maine. 
But interest in mental healing gave the disciples 
of the New Thought a point of view, a way of 
approaching all questions, a way of looking at 
life as a whole; it gave an impetus toward in- 
dividualism, toward freedom ; it implied religious 
liberalism; it implied idealism as a working or 
practical philosophy. Hence the special inter- 
est is related with all other interests, and we find 
the disciples of the New Thought advocating it 
as an all-inclusive program. If they sometimes 
made their work too broad and so lacked defmite- 
ness, if they sometimes claimed too much for 
their special interest, it was because their first 
desire was to gain recognition for their point of 
view, with sufficient emphasis to achieve results. 
The devotees were eager to show that the New 
Thought not only stands for a method of heal- 
ing but for a philosophy, a positive or affirmative 
idealism ; hence for religion, applied Christianity, 
the rediscovery of the gospel of healing. In the 



The First Organizations 191 

course of time, the New Thought as thus con- 
ceived became sufficiently known and recognized 
to make possible the successful representative 
movement of today. 

The New Thought has been defined by Eliza- 
beth Towne as "the fine art of recognizing, realiz- 
ing and manifesting the God in the individual." 
The first organizations were established to teach 
this fine art as applied to mental healing. Hence 
recognition of "the Christ within" was the cardi- 
nal principle. The later organizations have 
sought to make this fine art known in its relation 
not merely to mental healing but to the whole of 
life. Hence the New Thought has become a 
recognized p'hase of liberal Christianity through- 
out the world. 



IX 

THE FIRST CONVENTIONS 

As indicated above, attempts to organize the 
mental-healing movement when it was known as 
''mental science" were made in Boston and other 
cities. But these efforts were premature, inas- 
much as there was as yet no parent organization 
which could be taken as a model for the national 
movement. Moreover, the subject of mental 
healing had not long been before the public, and 
it was too soon to expect a general expression 
of interest. 

Meanwhile, the mental-healing movement had 
been growing in the far West under the auspices 
of the name Divine Science. The first conven- 
tion was held in San Francisco, 1894, under the 
auspices of the International Divine Science As- 
sociation, organized May 17, 1892, at Home Col- 
lege. This Association was "founded for the 
promulgation of Divine Science, the God idea 
of perfect unity, harmony and wholeness, as- 
sociated together in unity of spirit, for the heal- 
ing of the nations, and the general good of hu- 
manity." The first congress lasted six days, the 
second was held in Chicago, 1895; the third in 

192 



The First Conventions 193 

Kansas City, 1896; and the fourth in St. Louis, 
1897. This convention was said to be "the 
strongest Divine Science congress held by the As- 
sociation, and the most far reaching in its in- 
fluence for good to the general public." The 
general motto of the first congress was Unity, 
the subject of the second Truth, of the third 
Atonement, and of the fourth, Life. 

The subject of the fifth congress, held in Odd 
Fellows' Hall, San Francisco, November 14-19, 
1899, was "Truth of Being." The following 
statement indicates the general point of view: 
"Divine Science is unity. Divine Science ac- 
curately proves the unity of God with all living. 
A like revision and adjustment of thought is 
everywhere taking place in the secular, religious 
and scientific world. It is being understood 
that the law of the universe is the nature and 
goodness of the Supreme One ; the thoughts and 
ways of all must eventually be adjusted to ac- 
cord with this knowledge, and Divine Science be 
accepted as the basis of true education. The 
Science of Being includes every subject pertain- 
ing to Infinite Life and the good of humanity, 
the well-being of every creature. Its work is 
the universal dissemination of a knowledge of 
the Divine purpose of the Creator in creation." 

The president of the Association was Mrs. M. 
E. Cramer, the pioneer leader of that branch of 



194 The New Thought Movement 

the therapeutic movement, editor of Harmony, 
and author of various books on the general sub- 
ject, "Divine Science, the Christ Method of 
Healing." The speakers included the leading 
western representatives of the movement, with 
papers by the following writers, read by others 
in their absence: Rev. Helen Van- Anderson, 
Horatio W. Dresser, Henry Wood, Oliver C. 
Sabin, and Francis E. Mason. 1 One session was 
entirely devoted to experiences of healing with 
accounts of direct and personal testimony. Mr. 
R. C. Douglass, then of LaCrosse, Wis., whose 
interest in mental healing dates from 1886, made 
an address on "Your Own, and How to Obtain 
it." Mr. Douglass was the only leader present 
who has since been connected with all the im- 
portant New Thought organizations in the coun- 
try. 

It was hoped that the Association would be- 
come in truth international. But although its 
conventions attracted leaders from all parts of 
the country, the time had not come for a per- 
manent organization. Other attempts were 
made to organize the movement on a large scale, 
and during one year there were three so-called 
international organizations holding conventions. 
The movement which began in Boston with the 

i Mr. Sabin was a pioneer in "reformed Christian Science" in 
Washington, D. C, and Mr. Mason a pioneer in Brooklyn, N. Y. 



The First Contentions 195 

organizing of the Metaphysical Club did not at 
once lead to a permanent national society, but 
out of its efforts there came in time the first 
really international organization. 

After the Metaphysical Club had been in ex- 
istence four years and had won an assured place 
for itself, the time seemed to have come to make 
the beginnings of a national movement. Ac- 
cordingly, in 1899, the year of the fifth Divine- 
Science congress, the Club sent out a call for a 
convention of advanced thinkers, without regard 
to former affiliations, and looking forward to the 
formation of a national organization for New 
Thought propagandism. Delegates were in- 
vited to attend from many states. 

This, the first New-Thought convention un- 
der that name, was held in Lorimer Hall, Tre- 
mont Temple, Boston, October 24-26, 1899. 
The program indicated the reason for calling 
the convention at that time: "The preliminary 
notice of this convention has disclosed such a 
broad and deep interest in the- new movement to 
establish a world-wide unity and cooperation 
along the lines of the so-called 'New Thought,' 
that this gathering promises to be one of the 
most important steps in the history of this re- 
markable spiritual evolution." 

During the sessions of the convention a so- 
ciety was organized, and named The Interna- 



196 The New Thought Movement 

tional Metaphysical League. The following offi- 
cers were elected: C. B. Patterson, president; 
Col. Henry S. Tafft, vice-president; Warren A. 
Rodman, secretary; Harry Gestefeld, assistant 
secretary; Wm. E. Uptegrove, treasurer; and an 
executive board of twelve representing six states. 
Among the speakers were C. B. Patterson, 
Henry Wood, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Dr. Lewis G. 
Janes, Sarah J. Farmer, Bolton Hall, Paul Ty- 
ner, Henry S. Tafft, Josephine C. Barton, Eg- 
bert M. Chesley, Rev. R. Heber Newton, J. W. 
Winkley, Horatio W. Dresser, Miss Ellen M. 
Dyer, Ruth B. Bridges, Miss Anita Trueman, 
and Miss Jane Yarnell. A paper by Mrs. M. 
E. Cramer, the pioneer of Divine Science, San 
Francisco, was also read. The addresses were 
afterward gathered into a volume published by 
the League. Some of these papers have been re- 
published in The Spirit of the New Thought. 

The International Metaphysical League held 
its second convention in Madison Square Gar- 
den Concert Hall, New York City, October 23- 
26, 1900. The officers of the League were re- 
elected, and an executive board drawn from ten 
states, and vice-presidents from twenty-five 
states, from England, Australia, and New Zea- 
land, were elected. In its revised constitution 
the following "purposes" were adopted: "The 
Purpose of the League is: To establish unity 



The First Conventions 197 

and cooperation of thought and action among in- 
dividuals and organizations throughout the world 
devoted to the Science of Mind and of Being, 
and to bring them, so far as possible, under one 
name and organization; to promote interest in 
and the practice of a true spiritual philosophy 
of life; to develop the highest self-culture 
through right thinking, as a means of bringing 
one's loftiest ideals into present realization; to 
stimulate faith in and the study of the highest 
nature of man, in its relation to health, happiness, 
and progress ; to teach the universal Fatherhood 
and Motherhood of God and the all-inclusive 
Brotherhood of Man ; that One Life is immanent 
in the universe, and is both Centre and Circum- 
ference of all things visible and invisible, and that 
the Intelligence is above all and in all; and that 
from this Infinite Life and Intelligence proceed 
all Light, Love and Truth. These simple state- 
ments are in their nature tentative, and imply no 
limitations or boundaries to future progress and 
growth, as larger measures of light and truth 
shall be revealed." 

These "simple statements" are rather ambi- 
tious, and tend to cover a large territory in the 
realms of thought. They lack the incisiveness 
of earlier and later statements of the New 
Thought, but the endeavor of course is to state 
a widely inclusive ideal. This statement is, how- 



198 The New Thought Movement 

ever, referred to by New Thought leaders to 
indicate that the above have always been the 
characteristic purposes of the New Thought Al- 
liance, which succeeded the League, at all the 
conventions of the Alliance, and under its sev- 
eral revisions of constitutions, and the change in 
the name of the organization. 

The program called attention to the high 
character of the speakers, saying "It is a grand 
tribute to the beauty and power of this philoso- 
phy that it attracts the willing service of eminent 
thinkers and truth-seekers." In addition to the 
names appearing on the program of the first con- 
vention were the following: Professor John 
Tyler, Amherst College, John Brooks Leavitt, 
M. D., B. O. Flower, R. W. Trine, Rev. Helen 
Van-Anderson, Swami Abhedananda, lecturer 
on the Vedanta philosophy, Annie Rix Militz, 
Miss G. I. S. Andrews, and Aaron M. Crane. 

No conventions were held in 1901, 1902. In 
1903 an "International New Thought Conven- 
tion" was held in Chicago, under the auspices of 
the New Thought Federation of Chicago, in 
Music Hall, Fine Arts Building. T. G. North- 
rup was chairman, Agnes Chester See, vice- 
chairman, F. D. Wetmore, secretary, and Anna 
C. Waterloo, treasurer. The fourth annual 
convention was held in St. Louis, under the aus- 
pices of the New Thought Federation of St. 



The First Contentions 199 

Louis, October 25-28, 1904. Rev. R. Heber 

Newton was elected president; Ursula N. Geste- 
feld, vice-president; Eugene Del Mar, secretary; 
John D. Perrin, assistant secretary; H. Bradley 
Jeffrey, treasurer, and Bolton Hall, auditor. 

The fifth annual convention was held in 
Nevada, Mo., under the auspices of the Weltmer 
School of Healing, September 26-29, 1905. 
The officers elected were: Henry Harrison 
Brown, president; D. L. Sullivan, vice-presi- 
dent; Ernest Weltmer, secretary; Charles Ed- 
gar Prather, assistant secretary; Dr. J. W. 
Winkley, treasurer, and Carl Gleeser, auditor. 
At this convention the constitution was revised. 
The name was changed to The World New 
Thought Federation. Officers were elected for 
a convention to be held in Chicago, in October, 
1906, a convention which was not held. The last 
three conventions had been less successful, inas- 
much as it was not always easy to find common 
ground among representatives of individualism 
in the West and middle West. 

In order to make a new beginning on a more 
secure basis, a conference was held at the rooms 
of the Metaphysical Club, in Boston, April 26, 
1906. This meeting was called by C. B. Pat- 
terson, Dr. J. W. Winkley and other leaders, the 
object being to organize a society with the best 
interests of the New Thought in view; in order 



200 The New Thought Movement 

to promote the original purposes and plans of 
the International Metaphysical League, special 
reference being made to the federation of the 
many New Thought Centres existing throughout 
the country. The general desire was to put the 
work in the country as a whole on a more effi- 
cient basis. 

A reorganization was effected, a constitution 
adopted, and the following were elected officers: 
Rev. R. Heber Newton, president; Dr. J. W. 
Winkley, vice-president; Rev. W. J. Leonard, 
secretary; R. C. Douglass, assistant secretary; 
C. B. Patterson, treasurer; M. Woodbury Saw- 
yer, auditor. The board of officers was composed 
of those named above, also Ralph Waldo Trine, 
Mrs. Harriet A. Sawyer, Mrs. Josephine Ver- 
lage, Rev. M. K. Schermerhorn, Mrs. Sarah F. 
Meader, Mrs. Louise Randall, Miss Anita True- 
man, Rev. Helen Van- Anderson, Rev. T. Van 
Doren, and Rev. Henry Frank. The constitu- 
tion also provided for the formation of an ad- 
visory committee, to share in the general man- 
agement, to consist of a large number of repre- 
sentative members in New Thought societies in 
different parts of the country. From this reor- 
ganization and readjustment the society entered 
on a new career of. successful propagandism and 
prosperity. 

The seventh annual New Thought convention, 



The First Conventions 201 

that is, the second meeting under the auspices of 
the reorganized society, was held in Chickering 
Hall, Boston, April 21-23, 1907. The officers 
were Rev. It. Heber Newton, president; Dr. J. 
W. Winkley, vice-president; Rev. Alfred H. 
Brown, secretary; and C. B. Patterson, treas- 
urer. At the first session Prof. Josiah Royce 
and Dr. R. C. Cabot gave addresses. On the 
afternoon of the second day all clergymen in Bos- 
ton and vicinity were personally invited to at- 
tend. The subject was "The Relation of the 
Parochial Ministry to Spiritual Healing." The 
chairman was Rev. Albert B. Shields, an Episco- 
pal clergyman greatly interested in the subject 
of healing. 

The third convention of the reorganized so- 
ciety was held in Boston, April 12-14, 1908. 
The officers were, Rev. R. Heber Newton, presi- 
dent; Dr. J. W. Winkley, first vice-president; 
Rev. A. B. Shields, second vice-president; Rev. 
Alfred H. Brown, secretary; R. C. Douglass, as- 
sistant secretary; Dr. Julia Seton Sears, asso- 
ciate secretary; Miss Amelia H. Ames, treasurer; 
and Rev. DeWitt T. Van Doren, auditor. The 
election of clergymen not actively connected with 
the New-Thought movement but interested in 
healing was still customary at these conventions. 
It seemed desirable at that time to have officers 
of prominence in public life. The work of the 



202 The New Thought Movement 

society was of course mainly carried on by the 
assistant secretary. 

At this convention the constitution was re- 
vised, and the name of the organization changed, 
to indicate its scope. This new name, The Na- 
tional New Thought Alliance, was retained un- 
til, with its work abroad in 1914, it became The 
International New Thought Alliance. 

The fourth convention, now -styled The Na- 
tional New Thought Alliance, was held in Chick- 
ering Hall, Boston, May 7-9, 1909. The list of 
officers, as chosen in the previous convention is 
as follows: Rev. Henry Frank, president; 
James A. Edgerton, vice-president; R. C. Doug- 
less, secretary; Dr. Julia Seton Sears, associate 
secretary ; Amelia H. Ames, treasurer ; and Rev. 
De Witt T. Van Doren, auditor. At this con- 
vention James A. Edgerton was elected presi- 
dent, an office which he has held in the succeed- 
ing years, including the year of incorporation, 
1917. Rev. Stephen H. Roblin was elected first 
vice-president; Rev. De Witt T. Van Doren, 
2nd vice-president; Dr. J. W. Winkley, 3d vice- 
president; C. B. Patterson, 4th vice-president; 
R. C. Douglass, secretary; Amelia H. Ames, 
treasurer; and J. W. Pryde, auditor. 

A summer convention at the New Thought 
Chautauqua and Rest Home, at Oscawana, N. 
Y., was held August 6-8, 1909. This conven- 



The First Conventions 203 

tion combined the pleasures of a summer outing 
with the discussion of subjects pertaining to the 
New Thought. It was hoped that Oscawana 
would come to take the place of the New 
Thought conferences begun at Greenacre, Eliot, 
Maine. Oscawana lacked the prestige and at- 
mosphere, however, of Greenacre, and the ex- 
pectations were not realized. 

The tenth annual convention, the fifth since 
the reorganization, was held in Carnegie Ly- 
ceum, New York City, May 13-15, 1910. The 
same officers were elected, with the addition of 
Dr. Ellis B. Guild, who was elected associate 
secretary. Shortly after this convention an- 
other was held in Cincinnati, O., May 29-31, in 
association with the New Thought Temple, at the 
request of that society. Mr. Harry Gaze was 
chairman. The speakers were: Harry Gaze, 
Rev. Henry Frank, Dr. Julia Seton Sears, Dr. 
Anna B. Davis, Dr. A. J. Mclvor Tindall, R. 
C. Douglass, C. B. Patterson, Mrs. Mildred 
Gaze, Dr. C. O. Sahler, Rev. Paul Castle, A. P. 
Barton, and Ernest Weltmer. This convention 
brought together, besides people interested in the 
New Thought in that vicinity, representatives 
of the movement from the Middle West. 

The eleventh annual convention, the sixth since 
the reorganization, was held during eight days 
at Omaha, Nebraska, beginning June 18, 1911. 



204 The New Thought Movement 

Among the speakers were: Mr. Alfred Tom- 
son, local secretary; A. P. Barton, John Milton 
Scott, Annie Rix Militz, Grace M. Brown, Rev. 
Henry Frank, R. C. Douglass, J. A. Edgerton, 
and Mrs. C. E. C. N orris. At this convention 
there was added a new feature, The Convention 
School. There were eight classes teaching some 
phase of the New Thought, the subjects and 
speakers being as follows: "God in Man," J. 
A. Edgerton; "Practical Metaphysics," Grace 
M. Brown; "Psychical Secrets," Rev. Henry 
Frank; "The Way Unto the Perfect," Annie 
Rix Militz; "The Evolution of Christ in Con- 
sciousness," R. C. Douglass; "Masters of Your- 
self and Your World," Mrs. C. E. C. Norris; 
"Symbol Psychology," John Milton Scott; "Un- 
folding Individuality," A. P. Barton. 

The convention of 1912 was held in Los 
Angeles. Mr. Douglass, in sending out the call 
for this convention, stated that all New Thought 
societies were cordially invited to send delegates, 
pointing out that the invitation applied to all 
bodies holding similar views, "though they may 
not adopt the same name. . . . This is the first 
time that the East and the West come together in 
a mutual understanding and fellowship, for a 
larger and more aggressive propagandism ; and 
marked results are looked for." 

The meetings of the convention began June 



The First Conventions 205 

25 and continued until June 30. The subjects 
for the chief sessions were, The Divine Man, 
The Resurrecting Power, Unity, Joy and 
Beauty, Peace; and the speakers included Myra 
G. Frenyear, William Farwell, Harriet Hale 
Rix, Alfred Tomson, Harry Gaze, Clinton A. 
Billig, Henry Frank, Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin, 
C. Josephine Barton, Anna W. Mills, James 
Porter Mills, A. P. Barton, and Henry Victor 
Morgan. There were also six-day courses of 
lessons known as the " Convention at School," 
conducted by Mrs. Militz, Harriet Hale Rix, 
Dr. F. Homer Curtiss, Perry Joseph Green, 
Ida B. Ellioo, Jennie M. Croft, Harry Gaze, 
Sarah J. Watkins, L. A. Fealy, and others. 
Mrs. Militz has said of this convention, "All ex- 
ploitation of personalities and special centres was 
kept out as much as possible. Self-advertise- 
ment was not encouraged and the commercial 
spirit kept wholly in abeyance, yet opportunity 
was given to acquaint the strangers with the per- 
sons and places, the literature and the methods 
that could help them into the light. . . . No 
greater refutation of the accusation of some 
ignorant church people that the New Thought 
is anti-Christ could have been recorded than the 
addresses of almost all the speakers of this con- 
vention. I cannot think of one who did not 
somewhere along in his address speak lovingly, 



206 The New Thought Movement 

reverently and deeply of the Blessed One. There 
was no cant, no mere lip -phrasing of hackneyed 
sentences, but such speech as His early lovers 
might have phrased, before a priest-ridden 
church had formulated a creed and a ceremonial 
in His name." 1 

The eighth annual convention was held in De- 
troit, Mich., June 15-22, 1913. The ninth con- 
gress, held in New York City, June 7, 8, 1914, 
was a preliminary conference, looking forward 
to the first international convention in Great 
Britain, held in London, June 21-26, under the 
auspices of the Higher Thought Centre, and the 
National New Thought Alliance. At the con- 
vention in London the speakers from America 
included such leaders as Miss Harriet Hale Rix, 
Miss Emma C. Poore, Mrs. Chapin, Mrs. Annie 
Rix Militz, Mr. J. A. Edgerton and Mr. Harry 
Gaze. M. F. A. Mann represented the Ligue 
Internationale de la Nouvelle Pensee, and Miss 
Helen Boulnois, La Societe Unitive, Paris. 
The British representatives included J. Bruce 
Wallace, Judge T. Troward, vice-president for 
the British Isles, Charles Spencer, J. Macbeth 
Bain, Miss Louise Stacey, and Miss Dorothy 
Kerin. At a session dedicated to "the promo- 
tion of peace," plans for the International New 
Thought Congress for 1915, to be held at the 

i The Master Mind, Aug., 1912. 



The First Conventions 207 

Panama Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, 
were brought before the convention. The 
speaker was Miss Grace Wilson, delegate of Cal- 
ifornia 1915 Congress Committee. The Na- 
tional New Thought Alliance now became "in- 
ternational" in actuality, and entered upon its 
larger career under the best auspices. The con- 
vention as a whole was highly successful and its 
success marked an important milestone in the 
history of the Alliance. Delegates were pres- 
ent from Australia, South Africa, France, Scot- 
land, and a considerable number from the United 
States. Mrs. Militz preceded the congress by a 
tour around the world, speaking for the Alliance 
on the way and arousing interest in it. The con- 
gress in London was followed by a conference in 
Edinburgh, Scotland. With the sessions in New 
York, London, and Edinburgh, then, the Al- 
liance realized the ideals of the various societies 
in the mental-healing world which had been inter- 
national only in name. 1 

i The work of reorganizing the conventions and developing the 
New Thought Alliance, in 1903, was largely accomplished by 
Eugene Del Mar, chairman of the Committee on Organization, and 
active leader in the St. Louis convention. 



X 

THE INTERNATIONAL NEW THOUGHT ALLIANCE 

The convention held at San Francisco, in con- 
nection with the Panama-Pacific International 
Exposition, 1915, was called The First Interna- 
tional New Thought Congress. It began Au- 
gust 30, and continued until September 5, with 
three sessions daily and noon healing meetings. 
The meeting place was Moose Auditorium, 
Jones St., near Golden Gate Ave. The con- 
vention was preceded by New Thought Day, 
August 28, at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. 
The program for that day was as follows: As- 
sembling of all New Thought people at Fillmore 
St. entrance, to be escorted by officials and band 
to the Court of Abundance, to receive commem- 
orative bronze medal; Science and Demonstra- 
tion of Mind Reading by The Ellises, Pompeiian 
Room, Inside Inn ; banquet-lunch at Inside Inn ; 
music and reading, Recital Hall; interpretation 
of Dante's La Divina Comedia, Rev. Lucy C. 
McGee ; choral and organ recital, Mr. A. L. Ar- 
tigues, Festival Hall. 

At the opening session of the convention, Au- 
gust 30, Henry Harrison Brown was chairman, 

208 



New Thought Alliance 209 

and the speakers were: Rev. Lucy C. McGee, 
Boston, "The Divine Adventure"; Mrs. F. J. 
Nellis, London, "Philosophy, Ancient and Mod- 
ern"; Mrs. R. G. Peaseley, Los Angeles, Cal. ; 
and Dr. Theresa Stockman, New York City. 
In the afternoon Mrs. Agnes Lawson presided, 
and in the evening Annie Rix Militz, president 
of the California New Thought Exposition Com- 
mittee. There were addresses of welcome by 
James Ralph, Jr., mayor of San Francisco; H. 
K. Bassett, Panama-Pacific Exposition; James 
D. Barry, San Francisco Bulletin; Grant Wal- 
lace, chairman of the convention news bureau ; and 
responses on the part of the New Thought by Mr. 
Edgerton, Dr. Julia Seton, and Harry Gaze. 
The address of the evening was by George 
Wharton James, "California, the Natural Home 
of the New Thought." At the succeeding ses- 
sions of the convention there were addresses by 
Miss Julia M. Cook, Miss C. Fraser, Mrs. M. J. 
Merrill, Miss Lida M. Churchill, Mrs. A. H. 
Simpson, Harold Palmer, L. J. Fealy, Eliza- 
beth Towne, Annie Rix Militz, William C. Gib- 
bons, Mrs. M. W. Sewall, Mrs. C. E. Cumbert- 
son, John Milton Scott, P. J. Green, Florence 
Crawford, R. C. Douglass, Mrs. M. E. T. 
Chapin, Harry Gaze, Dr. C. F. Winbigler, Mrs. 
Anna W. Mills, Harriet Hale Rix, Mrs. Grace 
Brown, J. Stitt Wilson, Miss Harriet Hulick, 



210 The New Thought Movement 

and others. Different leaders were chosen to 
conduct the noon healing sessions, to give the 
closing affirmations, and to preside at the va- 
rious discussions. The business meeting of the 
Alliance was held Friday, September 3. The 
morning session, September 4, was devoted to a 
children's festival, with a lunch-party and games 
from 1 o'clock to 4. The session Saturday after- 
noon was for parents, teachers and others inter- 
ested in child development, with Harriet Hale 
Rix presiding. There were ten-minute ad- 
dresses on child welfare, physical, mental, moral 
and spiritual. At 4 p. m. there was a session de- 
voted to Sunday-school work, the speakers being 
Miss Blanche Ayles, Mrs. McQuesten, Mrs. Lin- 
tine Skinner, Miss Ethel Brown, Miss Josephine 
Hopkins, and Miss Wiebach. The theme for 
the last day, Sunday, September 5, was "Spir- 
ituality," and the speakers included William Far- 
well, Mrs. E. N. Randall, Mrs. Frenyear-Wise- 
man, F. L. Sears, James A. Edgerton and Dr. 
Julia Seton. 

The officers of the Alliance were: President, 
James A. Edgerton; vice-presidents, for Amer- 
ica, Annie Rix Militz; for Great Britain, Hon. 
T. Troward; for France, Mons. G. A. Mann; 
secretary, Harry Gaze; assistant secretaries, for 
England, Alice M. Callow; for Scotland, Mrs. 
H. R. Wallace; for America, Grace Wilson; 



New Thought Alliance 211 

treasurer, L. W. Blinn; auditor, R. C. Doug- 
lass; executive committee for United States, Mrs. 
M. E. T. Chapin, Miss Leila Simon, Miss Villa 
Faulkner Page; executive committee for Great 
Britain, J. Bruce Wallace, Mrs. H. Heard, and 
Miss Muriel Brown. Mrs. Militz was president 
of the California New Thought Exposition Com- 
mittee, and the committee included representa- 
tives of the various Homes of Truth and New 
Thought Centres throughout California. 

In the constitution and by-laws as published 
by the Alliance in 1916 the purposes of the so- 
ciety are given as follows: "To teach the infini- 
tude of the Supreme One; the Divinity of Man 
and his Infinite possibilities through the creative 
power of constructive thinking and obedience to 
the voice of the Indwelling Presence, which is 
our source of Inspiration, Power, Health and 
Prosperity. " The articles of the constitution 
make the customary provisions and include the 
recall, the latter to be indicated by a written 
petition signed by twenty per cent of the mem- 
bers. The executive board, besides having 
charge of all the business activities of the Al- 
liance, is to arrange for holding local confer- 
ences, organizing groups and societies for the 
propagation of the purposes of the Alliance, and 
the affiliation of societies already existing, also 
the publication of literature. Any person in 



212 The New Thought Movement 

sympathy with the purposes of the Alliance may 
become an active member on payment of the an- 
nual dues of one dollar, or a sustaining member 
on payment of annual dues of ten dollars. The 
fee for life membership is one hundred dollars. 
Any group, society, association or organization 
in sympathy with the purposes of the Alliance 
is entitled to register as a group member, regard- 
less of the number belonging to the group, on 
payment of ten dollars or a voluntary offering. 

The second international congress was held in 
St. Louis, September 17-24, 1916. The speak- 
ers included Sarah C. Morse, Leila Simon, Lil- 
ian Whiting, Harriet C. Hulick, Anne Young- 
Huntress, Dr. Sheldon Leavitt, T. J. Shelton, 
Dr. G. C. B. Ewell, Elizabeth Towne, W. W. 
Atkinson, R. C. Douglass, Harry Gaze, J. A. 
Edgerton, Dr. Julia Seton, Emma C. Poore, 
Charles O. Boring, and Sidney A. Weltmer. 

The executive board consisted of the presi- 
dent, secretary, treasurer, auditor, and Mrs. Cha- 
pin, Miss Emma Gray, John M. McGonigle, and 
Mrs. Rose M. Ashby. The honorary presidents 
were, W. W. Atkinson, H. H. Benson, T. P. 
Boyd, H. H. Brown, Clara B. Colby, Florence 
Crawford, Horatio W. Dresser, George Whar- 
ton James, Edgar L. Larkin, C. D. Larson, Ori- 
son Swett Mar den, Edwin Markham, Annie Rix 
Militz, C. B. Patterson, C. E. Prather, May 



New Thought Alliance 213 

Wright Sewall, Elizabeth Towne, William E. 
Towne, Ralph Waldo Trine, Lilian Whiting, 
and Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Vice-presidents 
were elected for each district, Dr. Harold F. 
Palmer, Southern Calif ornia- Arizona ; Harriet 
Hale Rix, Northern California-Nevada; Mrs. 
Anne Young-Huntress, Oregon; Rev. Granville 
Lowther, Washington-Idaho-Montana ; Mrs. 
Grace M. Brown, Colorado-Utah-Wyoming- 
New Mexico; Vernon Hendry, Kansas-Okla- 
homa; Rev. H. W. Pinkard, Nebraska-Iowa; 
Miss H. C. Hulick, Missouri-Kansas-Texas; 
Mrs. S. C. Morse, Illinois-Wisconsin; Mrs. Rose 
M. Ashby, Georgia-Florida-No. and So. Caro- 
lina; Miss Leila Simon, Ohio-Indiana-W. Vir- 
ginia; Mrs. A. W. King, Michigan; Mrs. A. H. 
Ray, Minnesota-No. and So. Dakota; John M. 
McGonigle, Pennsylvania; Dr. Julia Seton, 
New York-New Jersey; Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin, 
New England; Miss Emma Gray, District of 
Columbia-Mary land-Delaware- Virginia ; Mrs. 
R. D. Allen, Kentucky-Tennessee; Judge T. 
Troward, England; Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, Ire- 
land; Mrs. H. Rhodes-Wallace, Scotland; M. 
Georges A. Mann, France ; Sister Veni Cooper- 
Mathison, New South Wales; Miss Grace 
Aguilar, South Australia; Miss Emile A. Hu- 
lett, Victoria ; Georgina Hooper de Hammerton, 
South America; Dr. T. W. Butler, West Can- 



214 The New Thought Movement 

ada; Mrs. M. M. Hunter-Jones, Eastern Can- 
ada. 

The third congress was held in Planters Hotel, 
St. Louis, September 16-23, 1917. Among the 
speakers were, Charles F. Hatfield, W. John 
Murray, W. V. Nicum, Harold Palmer, James 
A. Edgerton, Dr. Julia Seton, J. P. Green, Mrs. 
Rose M. Ashby, Mrs. M. E. T. Chapin, Miss H. 
E. Hulick, W. Frederick Keeler, Elizabeth 
Towne, H. H. Schroeder, R. C. Douglass, Sarah 
C. Morse, T. J. Shelton, and Helen Van-And- 
erson-Gordon. A feature of the convention was 
a "New Speakers' Day." Addresses were made 
by Mary L. S. Butterworth, W. J. Holt, Ida 
Jane Ayres, Mida Sharp, Robert Whitaker, 
Juno Walton, E. C. Hartman, and Eleanor C. 
Graham. Saturday afternoon, September 22, 
there was a Children's Session, with a half hour 
of songs by pupils of the Society of Practical 
Christianity, St. Louis, and a special program 
following. A "Question Box Session" came 
Saturday evening. The convention closed with 
a grand rally of the Alliance, Sunday evening. 

At this convention the following Declaration 
of Principles was adopted, as the point of view 
and program of activities of The International 
New Thought Alliance: 

"We affirm the freedom of each soul as to 
choice and as to belief, and would not, by the 



New Thought Alliance 215 

adoption of any declaration of principles, limit 
such freedom. The essence of the New Thought 
is Truth, and each individual must be loyal to 
the Truth he sees. The windows of his soul must 
be kept open at each moment for the higher 
light, and his mind must be always hospitable to 
each new inspiration. 

"We affirm the Good. This is supreme, uni- 
versal and everlasting. Man is made in the 
image of the Good, and evil and pain are but 
the tests and correctives that appear when his 
thought does not reflect the full glory of this 
image. 

"We affirm health, which is man's divine in- 
heritance. Man's body is his holy temple. Ev- 
ery function of it, every cell of it, is intelligent, 
and is shaped, ruled, repaired, and controlled by 
mind. He whose body is full of light is full of 
health. Spiritual healing has existed among all 
races in all times. It has now become a part 
of the higher science and art of living the life 
more abundant. 

"We affirm the divine supply. He who serves 
God and man in the full understanding of the 
law of compensation shall not lack. Within us 
are unused resources of energy and power. He 
who lives with his whole being, and thus ex- 
presses fullness, shall reap fullness in return. 
He who gives himself, he who knows, and acts 



216 The New Thought Movement 

in his highest knowledge, he who trusts in the 
divine return, has learned the law of success. 

"We affirm the teaching of Christ that the 
Kingdom of Heaven is within us, that we are 
one with the Father, that we should judge not, 
that we should love one another, that we should 
heal the sick, that we should return good for 
evil, that we should minister to others, and that 
we should be perfect even as our Father in 
Heaven is perfect. These are not only ideals, 
but practical, everyday working principles. 

"We affirm the new thought of God as Uni- 
versal Love, Life, Truth and Joy, in whom we 
live, move and have our being, and by whom we 
are held together; that His mind is our mind 
now, that realizing our oneness with Him means 
love, truth, peace, health and plenty, not only 
in our own lives but in the giving out of these 
fruits of the Spirit to others. 

"We affirm these things, not as a profession, 
but practice, not on one day of the week, but in 
every hour and minute of every day, sleeping and 
waking, not in the ministry of a few, but in a 
service that includes the democracy of all, not in 
words alone, but in the innermost thoughts of the 
heart expressed in living the life. 'By their 
fruits ye shall know them.' 

"We affirm Heaven here and now, the life 
everlasting that becomes conscious immortality, 



New Thought Alliance 217 

the communion of mind with mind throughout 
the universe of thought, the nothingness of all 
error and negation, including death, the variety 
in unity that produces the individual expressions 
of the One-Life, and the quickened realization 
of the indwelling God in each soul that is mak- 
ing a new heaven and a new earth." 

The fourth congress was held in Boston, Sep- 
tember 15-22, 1918. The officers at that time 
were James A. Edgerton, president; Leona 
Feathers, secretary; William E. Hutton, treas- 
urer; and R. C. Douglass, auditor. Additional 
names among the list of honorary presidents 
were Alice M. Callow, Emma Curtis Hopkins, 
Veni Cooper-Mathison, and T. J. Shelton. 
Other names were also added to the list of vice- 
presidents representing districts as follows: 
Miss Florence A. Sullenberg, Oregon; Judge 
W. R. Gay, Washington; Rev. H. H. Schroeder, 
Missouri; Gen. J. Kellog, Arkansas; Dr. Anna 
Gaines, Texas; Mrs. Augusta Prindle, Wiscon- 
sin; W. V. Nicum, Ohio- West Virginia; G. W. 
Maxwell, Indiana ; Rev. W. John Murray, New 
York-New Jersey; Mrs. E. J. Graham, Lou- 
isana- Alabama-Mississippi; Mrs. S. P. Anthony, 
Kentucky-Tennessee; Mrs. Luis Leal, Mexico; 
Mme. Florence Struve, France; Miss Eunice 
Jones, South Australia; Mrs. Preshaw, Western 
Australia; W. Walker, New Zealand; Will- 



218 The New Thought Movement 

oughby Connor, Tasmania; Mrs. M. Moncrief, 
Hawaiian Islands; and Dr. J. Seetulsingh, West 
Indies. 

The various sessions were as usual under the 
chairmanship of such leaders as James A. Edger- 
ton, Mrs. Chapin, R. C. Douglass, Elizabeth 
Towne, Harold Palmer, Leila Simon, and Annie 
Rix Militz. Among the speakers were Mrs. 
Chapin, Mr. Edgerton, Harold Palmer, Helen 
Van- Anderson-Gordon, J. M. McGonigle, Eliz- 
abeth Towne, Sarah C. Morse, Dr. Ewell, Mrs. 
C. E. C. Norris, T. J. Shelton, Emma C. Poore, 
Rose M. Ashby, Villa Faulkner Page, Sarah F. 
Meader, Harry Gaze and Miss Edith Martin. 
A session was devoted to questions, and the clos- 
ing session was a grand rally in Faneuil Hall, 
with addresses by Mayor Peters and representa- 
tives of the army and navy. 

The annual address of the president, Mr. 
James A. Edgerton, from which we quote in 
part, gave a comprehensive summary of the re- 
cent growth and development of the New 
Thought in various parts of the world. Mr. Ed- 
gerton expressed the conviction that the devotees 
of the New Thought, among "all good Ameri- 
cans and all good citizens of other allied coun- 
tries," believed that the winning of the war was 
the great need of the time, and that all other 
activities, even spiritual activities, should tern- 



New Thought Alliance 219 

porarily be subordinated to this great purpose. 
Nevertheless, he was able to report that the Al- 
liance had steadily grown, with the addition of 
hundreds of members and many new groups. 
He also reported that there was more money in 
the treasury, and without any special effort to 
procure it. 

Among other new Centres, Mr. Edgerton 
mentioned those established at Des Moines, Iowa; 
Wilmington, Delaware; Portsmouth, Va., and 
several on the Pacific Coast. "In Australia," 
Mr. Edgerton said, "our work has been prac- 
tically at a standstill because of the war, but all 
the centres are still active. In this connection, 
our good friends in Australia say they owe very 
much of their interest in the new philosophy to 
the visits of two American New Thought teach- 
ers, Mrs. Annie Rix Militz and Dr. Julia Seton. 
Indeed, in all parts of the world this new phi- 
losophy is traced to America. In England, 
whereas in the political field we call her the 
Mother Country, in the spiritual field the Eng- 
lish schools of New Thought call America the 
Mother Country, and look to us to lead the way. 

"In France the work has been carried on by 
Madame Florence Struve in Paris, who has 
worked mostly with the soldiers. Another 
leader in Paris, M. Albert Caillet, is here in 
America now with a French Government Com- 



220 The New Thought Movement 

mission and has promised that at some time dur- 
ing the week he may appear at this Congress. 

"In Great Britain, all of the centres are active, 
but the greatest centre there, at Isle worth, the 
old home of the Duke of Manchester, where the 
work was carried on by Dr. Orlando E. Miller, 
has been turned over to war work and the nurs- 
ing of the soldiers ; and Dr. Miller is carrying on 
his work in London. 

"In this connection some of our American 
New Thought teachers are on the other side, as- 
sisting as they may in the Y. M. C. A. work, 
Red Gross work and other similar activities. 
Horatio W. Dresser of Boston, from whom we 
have an inspiring letter, is now in France in Y. 
M. C. A. work and Rev. W. John Murray of 
New York is in Italy in Red Cross work. 

"Our field secretaries have been busy. Miss 
Mary Allen of New York has made two trips 
across the continent and back, making numerous 
addresses on the way — starting at the Atlantic 
and going to the Pacific Coast. Three of our 
field secretaries were at the beginning of the year 
on the Pacific Coast. One has since gone on 
with his own work. Another in the State of 
Georgia was called on by the Government to 
take up work in connection with the Food Ad- 
ministration and while travelling over the State 
he takes occasion to teach the Truth. 



New Thought Alliance 221 

"In New England we have had several con- 
ferences in Boston and at various points under 
Mrs. Chapin, who is not only vice-president, but 
field secretary-at-large, and has been most ac- 
tive. In Philadelphia we have had a most flour- 
ishing year". I was called there to give an ad- 
dress in one of the largest rooms in the Bellevue- 
Stratford, and people were standing out in the 
hallways. This was very promising and encour- 
aging for the reason that we had not previously 
had a New Thought work in Philadelphia. Re- 
cently Mrs. Butterworth organized a new cen- 
tre in the suburbs of Philadelphia and I believe 
a new centre in New Jersey. 

"We have had field conferences leading up to 
this congress in many districts. One of the larg- 
est was held in the Waldorf-Astoria in the city 
of New York under the leadership of Rev. W. 
John Murray, our vice-president, and the League 
for the Larger Life, which is a federation of cen- 
tres in that city. 

"We had a very successful conference in 
Washington, D. C, and two in Ohio; in Dayton 
and Cincinnati, where there is one of the most 
flourishing centres in the world. We had a con- 
ference in Seattle, Washington, under Judge 
Gay, another one in San Francisco, and a con- 
ference that was not strictly under the auspices 
of the Alliance in Los Angeles under Mr. 



222 The New Thought Movement 

Holmes, one of the Holmes Brothers of that city, 
who are doing a splendid work, and one of whom 
will be in this city to address the congress. An- 
other conference is being held in Los Angeles 
this week under the direction of the vice-presi- 
dent, Miss Harriet Hale Rix. 

"Following this congress, one will be held in 
London under the auspices of the Alliance, as 
was the case last year. They cabled us at that 
time that it was very much larger and better 
than they had expected — and I have no doubt 
it will be still greater this year. . . . 

"This in a word gives you some idea of the 
work the Alliance has been carrying on in a 
quiet way. As for our future plans, I can say 
but this: that now, in my opinion, is the time, 
above all others, for every one in this movement, 
or any other kindred movement, who feels called, 
to prepare himself, or herself, to carry this mes- 
sage of reconstruction, of optimism, this message 
which is the very soul of democracy — to carry 
this message to Europe where we can aid not 
only in the physical work of reconstruction, but 
in the mental work of reconstruction, which is of 
far greater importance. While the war is still 
on we can prepare. Mrs. Militz, who has trav- 
elled from one side of this country to the other 
holding classes, has been devoted to this single 
purpose — of preparing teachers who could go 



New Thought Alliance 223 

out into the world and, following the Master's 
injunction, preach the gospel to every creature. 
She already has a school at Los Angeles, called 
the University of Christ, and this work she has 
been doing about the country is simply an ex- 
tension of the work in her school. Her exam- 
ple can be followed by others. In this connec- 
tion, let me say that a great number of our cen- 
tres throughout the country have made a special 
point this year of working with the soldiers, not 
only of inviting soldiers to the centres, but of 
going out to the camps, in collaborating with the 
Y. M. C. A., and carrying the message and ren- 
dering service in such ways as presented them- 
selves. I cannot too strongly urge upon you the 
importance of extending that work in every pos- 
sible way. 

"This New Thought gospel is not new in the 
sense that it is radically different from the things 
that have been taught heretofore. It is only 
new, as I see it, in the application. In other 
words, we in this age are practical, and especially 
so in America. We do not much regard any- 
thing that cannot be applied and demonstrated. 
This is not in any sense a denial of idealism — 
quite the contrary, but it puts idealism to the 
test. If it is of worth, it can be used. If we 
believe anything we can apply to that thing the 
acid test of practice, and, if it does not prove 



224 The New Thought Movement 

up, it is not a thing on which we can waste our 
time. 

"Truths taught by the Master have been 
preached all through the ages, and believed — at 
least in a sense. But they were not believed 
enough to put them to the acid test of demon- 
stration, of application. All that the New 
Thought movement and other kindred move- 
ments have done in this day is to work at our 
faith. We have had the faith before. We have 
had the ideal. Throughout all these ages the 
splendid example shown by those who were of 
the bone, blood and sinew of the Church has 
proved that they believed, for they gave them- 
selves to the uttermost, as willing sacrifices. 
They permitted themselves to be fed to the wild 
beasts and to be burned as living torches in the 
name of their blessed Master. They did not lack 
in faith ; they only lacked in the adaptation. 

"Looking at the world as it is today, it grows 
ever plainer to us that Christianity has not failed 
— real Christianity, but that people have failed 
to be Christians. I use the term 'Christian' as 
one who is a follower of the Christ. He com- 
manded that we should heal the sick, but we have 
not healed the sick for nineteen hundred years; 
and, when a cult arose in our own time, who be- 
gan practising this, His most oft-repeated com- 
mandment, they were placed beyond the pale of 



New Thought Alliance 225 

the Church. He commanded us not to lay up 
for ourselves treasures upon earth, yet in this 
age and in the lands called by His name, we have 
the most colossal fortunes the world has ever 
known. He commanded us not to pray in pub- 
lic to be heard of men, but to pray to the Father 
in secret, and yet the sects continue to pray to 
be heard of men. He commanded us to avoid 
lip service. He said unto those who call Lord, 
Lord, that he would not know them. He fixed 
this standard as the mark of His followers : those 
who kept His commandments. Yet we have 
called Lord, Lord, throughout the ages and have 
not kept His commandments. A house divided 
against itself cannot stand. We Christians 
must become all for Christ or all for anti-Christ. 
For nineteen hundred years we have temporized 
between the two until anti-Christ arose and smote 
us in this present world-tragedy. 

"I do not say these things in the way of criti- 
cism. I say them because they appear the pro- 
found truth. We have learned in this age that 
we get what we give, that there is no power over 
us that rules us to ends other than those we have 
shaped; that the things that have come into the 
world, that have manifested, are the results of 
the thoughts of the people in the world. This 
world war is the result of years and even cen- 
turies of fear, hatred, race antagonism and like 



226 The New Thought Movement 

negative things that people have held in their 
thoughts ; and we shall have to work out of these 
things by changing our thoughts. There will be 
•a new heaven and a new earth whenever there is a 
new thought of heaven and earth in the minds of 
men, and not before. That is the reason for the 
New Thought movement. 

"I am asked often: What is the relation of 
this movement to the Church? What is its re- 
lation to the other new movements of the day? 
I am going to answer these questions as far as I 
may with utter frankness. 

"This is not a new religion. It is not an in- 
stitution seeking to build itself up for the mere 
sake of the institution. We do not ask anybody 
to leave the Church — far from it. We have 
members of the Alliance, of the New Thought 
centres, that are members of churches and of no 
church. We ask them to become better mem- 
bers of their churches than before. The New 
Thought is designed to make people better and 
more efficient in whatever relation of life they 
may find themselves — if a man is a teacher, a 
soldier, or an accountant, to make him a better 
teacher, soldier, or accountant. It teaches him 
to depend upon his own inner powers. In his 
domestic relations, it makes him kindlier. If 
he is an American, it renders him a better Amer- 
ican. It teaches him to fulfill the place he is 



New Thought Alliance 227 

given (whatever that place may be) to the ut- 
most of his powers and without fear, knowing 
that he has nothing of which to be afraid and 
that within him are untapped levels of energy 
upon which he may call. In other words: 
'New Thought teaches men and women only the 
old common-sense doctrine of self-reliance, and 
belief in the integrity of the universe and of one's 
own soul. It dignifies and ennobles manhood 
and womanhood.' 

"But the main idea on which Christianity was 
founded is that of communion with God, that of 
worshipping God in spirit and in Truth. This 
is the very cornerstone of these modern move- 
ments that recognize men and women as the liv- 
ing temples of the God within. This thought 
has triumphed over all the centuries and over all 
the mistakes of the followers of the Nazarene — 
those who have called themselves by His name 
— until the Christian faith is the greatest upon 
the earth. And I predict that this new inter- 
pretation and new understanding will become 
universal in the new age that is now dawning; 
for, after all, as I see it, the New Thought is 
but the Christ Thought — without forms or cere- 
monies, without any appeal to religious preju- 
dice or to tradition, but in the common-sense 
way of every-day living and application. It is 
the realization in practical affairs of the teach- 



228 The New Thought Movement 

ings not only of the Nazarene, but of every other 
great religious teacher since the world began; 
for in their essence these teachings are funda- 
mentally alike ; and the New Thought and other 
new spiritual movements are but the efforts to 
apply, in our relations one with another, these 
simple and sublime truths. . . . 

"Do not neglect the spiritual message that is 
coming to men everywhere. Woe be it to him 
that receives and does not heed. I am a busy 
man, as you have been told, but I have never 
been so busy that I could not find some time to 
devote to this work of my soul, work that my 
soul was called upon to do. Suppose Paul had 
neglected the heavenly vision — what a difference 
there would have been in civilization. Suppose 
Peter had turned back from Rome — think what 
that would have meant to all the western nations 
from that day to this ! You cannot measure the 
possible effect of your failure to heed the still 
small voice. You do not know what seed you 
may sow, what work of reconstruction you can 
carry on. So my message to you tonight is very 
simple ; it is this : 

"The call is upon us, especially upon us, to 
carry forth Christ's message to all peoples every- 
where — one of us in one way and one in an- 
other, but to each of us in the way for which he 
or she is best fitted. There could be no nobler 



New Thought Alliance 229 

work in the world; there could be no work that 
would more appeal to the highest and best in us. 
There could be no work more fruitful in spiritual 
blessing and in happiness here and now and al- 
ways. Are we ready? This war will not last 
always. I am not one of those who prophesy 
when it will end — I do not know. I think it will 
end when the forces of democracy get enough 
men to the front to end it. That may be next 
year, it may be later. I am only sure of one 
thing, and I am as sure of that as I am that 
there is a quick intelligence and a benevolent in- 
telligence over all the affairs of men — I am sure 
it will end right. The world has seen dark days 
since the dawning of time, but it has never seen 
any great struggle in which moral principles 
were involved that right did not ultimately 
triumph, and right will ultimately triumph now 
and in all the affairs of men. I am sure of one 
other thing — that the general broad principles 
taught by Jesus of Nazareth, which have become 
the foundation of our civilization, are the corner- 
stone of democracy, good government, humani- 
tarianism and of all the things for which we 
stand — I am sure that these principles will 
triumph over all lands, and it is for you and me, 
my friends, to assist in their triumph. When 
this war is over, people will bring this new truth, 
which is the old truth of the Nazarene, to Eng- 



230 The New Thought Movement 

land, to France, to Belgium, to assist not alone 
in preaching — that is a small part of it (Jesus 
spent very little time preaching — He spent most 
of His time doing good) . But to heal, to re- 
construct, to spread the message of brotherhood 
— to teach the Truth. 

"I expect a response from Boston, which is the 
birthplace of this movement and other move- 
ments of kindred character. I expect that the 
people of Boston will lead in this work and that 
the International Alliance will take practical 
steps towards this goal that will not end in mere 
talk. I am not seeking to be eloquent tonight, 
but I am seeking to bring home to you the neces- 
sity, the crying necessity, when this war is over, 
to send our missionaries to every country and to 
start centres in all the world — to take the message 
to every land under the sun, to help the recon- 
struction and healing of the nations, to bring in 
the new age of which we have preached — the 
founding of God's kingdom on earth." 



XI 

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS 

The development of the mental-healing move- 
ment in the early years was largely due to the 
teaching of various leaders whose students in 
turn became leaders, many of them founders of 
different phases of the movement in the East, the 
Middle West and far West. Thus, as already 
indicated, the instruction given by Mrs. Stuart of 
Hyde Park, Mass., led to pioneer work in Hart- 
ford and New York. In the same way Mrs. 
Emma Curtis Hopkins became a teacher of lead- 
ers in Chicago and San Francisco. Among the 
latter may be mentioned Charles and Myrtle 
Fillmore, who established the branch of the move- 
ment known as Practical Christianity, published 
Thought, now called Unity, Wee Wisdom's 
Way, the first mental-healing magazine for chil- 
dren, and founded other departments of the work 
of The Society of Silent Unity, Kansas City; 
Charles A. and Josephine Barton, editors of The 
Life, Kansas City; T. J. Shelton, editor of 
Scientific Christian; Helen Wilmans, editor of 
Wilman's Express and author of The Blossom of 
the Century and other volumes; and Ella 

231 



232 The New Thought Movement 

Wheeler Wilcox, the well known New-Thought 
writer. Another of Mrs. Hopkins' students was 
Mr. Paul Militz, who with Mr. Shelton, was the 
first to teach Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, editor of 
Nautilus, Holyoke, Mass., and author of many 
excellent books on the New Thought. Still an- 
other was Miss Annie E. Rix, who later became 
Mrs. Militz, in turn one of the leaders of the 
movement on the Pacific Coast. 

The history of the movement in California 
lates from 1887, when Mrs. Hopkins, formerly 
one of Mrs. Eddy's students, went to San Fran- 
cisco at the request of interested people and 
taught a class of 250 people, including Mrs. 
Sadie Gorie, Miss Harriet Hale Rix, and Mrs. 
Militz, then Miss Rix. 1 The name for mental 
healing employed at first was Christian Science, 
but the first society was known as The Pacific 
Coast Metaphysical Bureau, later called the 
Christian Science Home, then the Home of 
Truth, the name which has been retained for 
mental-healing centres on the Pacific coast. The 
Home of Truth in Alameda was established in 
1893. Later, similar centres were opened *in 
Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland, San Jose, 
Sacramento, Berkeley, and Sierra Madre, Cali- 

i The first book was by Julia Anderson Root, The Healing 
Power of Mind, San Francisco, 1884. 



Other Organizations 233 

fornia; also at Victoria, B. C, and Walla Walla, 
Washington. 

Mrs. Militz, who became the leading teacher in 
California, moved in 1896 to Los Angeles and 
established the Home of Truth there. Mrs. 
Militz was also the leader in the establishment of 
the other Homes of Truth in California. The 
Master Mind, the monthly periodical represent- 
ing this branch of the movement, was begun in 
1911. The Home of Truth idea has gradually 
been extended to other parts of the country, and 
has become a widely recognized plan for New- 
Thought work and propaganda. 

The work of the original Home of Truth in 
San Francisco is typical of this work at its best. 
The location of the Home was changed several 
times, and in the great fire of 1906 the building 
with all its contents was destroyed. "The con- 
structive spirit of San Francisco showed itself 
in the activity of the Home, which almost im- 
mediately went to work arranging for its meet- 
ings in the homes of students until a suitable 
place could be found for its permanent housing. 
Besides the thousands of adults who have been 
taught the true life and who have been freed 
from poverty and all manner of disease, especial 
attention has been given to children, the Sunday- 
school class-work for them forming an impor- 



234 The New Thought Movement 

tant feature in the Home. Several true visions 
have been launched, supported by free-will of- 
ferings for a few years, then passed into the in- 
visible, there to be strengthened until the race is 
ready to receive them back in full force, such as a 
kindergarten, a woman's exchange, Homes of 
Truth for children, and centres where unhoused 
men may find the atmosphere of a true home and 
comfort. 

"There are two Rest Homes in connection with 
the work, one in San Jose and the other in Gar- 
vanza, where students and patients abide while 
being delivered from limitation. A beautiful ex- 
pression of this inspired work is now in full ac- 
tivity under the supervision of Mrs. Militz, in 
connection with the Los Angeles Home, known 
as 'The University of Christ,' where teacher-stu- 
dents are trained to open and minister in Cen- 
tres of Truth. 

"A vital Men's Meeting conducted by men 
only has found true devotion and highest results 
in aiding men to feel at home in the truth. 
There is one in the San Francisco Home and one 
in the Los Angeles Home, with weekly gather- 
ings. As the Home idea may not be confined 
to a house with many rooms and servants, but 
may find expression in a flat, apartment, hotel, 
boat-house, cottage or room, so the Home of 
Truth idea has found ideal expression in many 



Other Organizations 235 

small centres of truth known by various names 
such as 'The Down Town Centre,' San Fran- 
cisco, with its 'Noon-day Talks.' " 

The idea of the Home of Truth has been ex- 
pressed by one of the leaders as follows: "A 
presentation of Jesus Christ's teachings and 
practice is offered to the world in these Homes 
that is believed to be the primitive ministry of 
Christianity which was given to the world for 
man's healing or salvation — body, mind, soul, 
and estate. The chief teacher and founder is 
Jesus Christ; the great authority for our belief 
is the Holy Spirit within each one; and the 
church is the whole body of divine humanity 
everywhere, visible and invisible, all being broth- 
ers and sisters, with one Father-Mother whose 
name is God. 

"The text-books are: first, the four Gospels, 
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, especially the 
words of Jesus Christ; second, the remaining 
books of the Bible; and third, all other Scriptures 
and writings that have blessed humanity. We 
do not organize, have formed no new church or 
creed, but recognize that the homes of the na- 
tion are the spiritually natural places for wor- 
ship and for the healing and teaching ministry. 
The true home is the beginning of heaven on 
earth, promised by the Spirit and prophesied by 
the Christ. 



236 The New Thought Movement 

"The Home of Truth teaches the absolute 
doctrine of the Allness of God the Good, and 
that love to God and to the neighbor is one. It 
teaches the divinity of man and his unity with 
God; that heaven is within and is to be proved 
in thought, word and deed. It teaches that 
health, joy, and prosperity are spiritual and be- 
long fully to those who know truth and live the 
life. 

"The healing ministry is the same as that of 
Jesus Christ, who healed through knowledge and 
by speaking the word of truth, silently and 
audibly. No charge is made for any of its min- 
istrations, for all the gifts of God are free ; there- 
fore we are not under the law of barter. Ac- 
cording to the law of love we give freely and re- 
ceive freely, under the free-will offering plan. 
Each Home is independent of all the others 
financially and in the use of methods, and yet 
all are in perfect harmony as to the main pur- 
pose. Each Home aspires to be one of all the 
Homes of Truth throughout the earth. Its most 
earnest desire is that every home shall be a heal- 
ing centre where any one who loves the truth 
may find spiritual refreshment, instruction and 
counsel, 'without money and without price'; 
where they may be healed physically and morally, 
and become themselves instruments of blessing, 
to hasten the day of a redeemed world. 



Other Organizations 237 

"There is a Sunday-school for children con- 
nected with each Home, Bible classes, healing 
meetings, devotional services, daily individual 
healing and class-instruction. The Metaphys- 
ical Library in San Francisco, situated at 126 
Post Street, is a product of the Homes of Truth, 
and is managed by a committee containing sev- 
eral of its devoted workers." 

Mrs. Militz taught classes in Chicago, 1898- 
1902, when she was leader of the Chicago Truth 
Centre and speaker for the Prentice Mulford 
Club. She also taught classes in Boston, Brook- 
lyn and New York City, and then began a two 
years' teaching tour of the world, spending seven 
months in Japan, four in India, and six in Eng- 
land. In 1913 Mrs. Militz made a second tour 
of the world, accompanied by three students, 
Miss Grace Wilson, afterward secretary of the 
International New Thought Alliance; Mrs. 
Anna C. Howlett, and Miss Florence N. John- 
son. During this tour Mrs. Militz taught in 
Honolulu, in the four largest cities of Australia, 
in Paris, England and Scotland. 

In Denver, Colorado, the first phase of the 
therapeutic movement to become generally 
known was due to the teachings of Melinda E. 
Cramer, Fannie B. James, and other Divine 
Scientists. The Colorado College of Divine Sci- 
ence, located at 730 East 17th St., was incor- 



238 The New'Thought Movement 

porated in 1898, "for the purpose of instruc- 
tion in the law and order of Divine Healing as 
declared by Jesus Christ, and for the promo- 
tion of the religious, educational and ethical 
principles [of] the system known as Divine Sci- 
ence." Miss Nona L. Brooks is president, and 
Mrs. Ruth B. Smith, secretary-treasurer. The 
books used include Truth and Health, by Fan- 
nie B. James; Studies in Divine Science, by 
Mrs. C. L. Baum; and Divine Science and Heal- 
ing, by Mrs. Cramer. The ninth annual assem- 
bly of the college was held Feb. 4-6, 1919. The 
activities of this branch of Divine Science include 
the Missouri College of Divine Science, under 
the leadership of H. H. Schroeder, St. Louis, 
Mo.; Rev. Mr. Murray's First Divine Science 
Church of New York City; and Glints of Wis- 
dom, edited by T. M. Minard, Portland, Oregon. 
Power, a monthly magazine edited and pub- 
lished by Charles E. Prather, Denver, contains 
a Higher Thought directory of Truth Centres 
and Divine Science Centres. Mr. Prather's 
Power School of Truth, incorporated 1916, is in 
part an outgrowth of the Unity movement in 
Kansas City. His magazine bears the sub-title 
"The Higher Thought Magazine of Practical 
Christianity." Thus the several names and 
terms prove to be virtually interchangeable, and 
the term New Thought may once more be taken 



Other Organizations 239 

in its representative sense as standing for Divine 
Science, the Higher Thought and Practical 
Christianity. 

The same interchangeable use of terms is to 
be observed in the case of one of the most vigorous 
of the New Thought periodicals, Now, pub- 
lished in San Francisco, Cal., described in its 
sub-title as "a Monthly Journal of Positive Af- 
firmations, devoted to Mental Science and the 
Art of Living." This magazine was established 
by Henry Harrison Brown, in 1900. Its basic 
affirmation is, "Man is spirit here and now, with 
all the possibilities of Divinity within him and 
he can consciously manifest these possibilities 
here and now." Mr. Brown was well known as 
the author of New Thought Primer,, San Fran- 
cisco, 1903, and other volumes on mental heal- 
ing. He was succeeded by Sam E. Foulds as 
editor of Now, The kind of mental science im- 
plied in the above mentioned sub-title is that of 
the New Thought in general, after the use of af- 
firmations pertaining to every phase of life came 
into vogue. 

The World's Advance Thought, edited and 
published by Mrs. Lucy A. Mallory, Portland, 
Oregon, was the pioneer mental-healing publi- 
cation in the far Northwest. In the state of 
Washington, interest early appeared in Helen 
Wilmans' type of mental science, and a Mental 



240 The New Thought Movement 

Science Association was organized in Seattle. 
The first convention was held in Seattle in 1899. 
The second convention representing this mental 
science was held at Seabreeze, Florida, in 1900. 

Prior to 1907, W. K. Jones was a leading 
pioneer in making the New Thought known in 
Portland, Oregon. In 1907, Benj. Fay Mills 
held a series of meetings and classes on Emer- 
son, Whitman, and the Bhagavad Gita. From 
these classes there followed a society known as 
the Fellowship Society of Portland, Oregon, 
with the late Clara Bewick Colby as president. 
There was also a council of five appointed, Dr. 
J. J. Story, Perry Joseph Green, Mrs. O. N. 
Denny, Dr. Mary Thompson, and T. O. Hague, 
with Florence A. Sullenberg, secretary. Tues- 
day evenings were set apart for the study of 
Emerson's Essays, and out of these groups came 
the present Emerson Study Circle, which meets 
at the Metaphysical Library. Other centres 
developed from the Fellowship Society and 
adopted the name New Thought. 

Rev. Victor Henry Morgan of Tacoma, 
Washington, a Universalist pastor in good stand- 
ing, preaches from his pulpit the New Thought 
philosophy, and practises mental healing; but 
prefers to stay in the organization to which he 
belongs. A considerable movement has ema- 
nated from the teachings of Mrs. Agnes Galer 



Other Organizations 241 

in Seattle, Washington. She has taught for 
several years, organized a school and church, edu- 
cated several teachers, and workers who in turn 
have organized classes, and the general move- 
ment is known as Divine Science, while the 
classes are generally called Truth Centres. 

Mr. Granville Lowther reports that there is 
"a widespread influence, not so well organized, 
growing out of the teachings of Mrs. Militz and 
Harriet Hale Rix through their magazine, Mas- 
ter Mind. This type of teaching is like Chris- 
tian Science in that its adherents believe that 
mind is the only reality. In philosophy they 
would be called subjective idealists. They deny 
reality of matter. Unity has a considerable 
number of readers, and a few Unity classes are 
organized. They too teach subjective idealism, 
but I have generally found that the average 
reader does not fully understand the difference 
between the two philosophies of subjective and 
objective idealism. What they want is some- 
thing to help them in the practical duties and re- 
sponsibilities of life. Nautilus, edited by Mrs. 
Towne, has a larger number of readers than all 
other New Thought magazines in the district. 
Mrs. Towne's philosophy is that of objective 
idealism, that is, she believes in the reality of 
matter. . . . 

"One of the largest movements in the district 



242 The New Thought Movement 

perhaps is located at Spokane under the leader- 
ship of Rev J. K. Grier. Mr. Grier was once 
pastor of a Universalist church in Spokane. 
There seemed to be some conflict between him- 
self and the leaders of his church on the question 
of healing. He adopted what is practically our 
New Thought philosophy, but prefers not to be 
called by that name. He has organized a good 
church, erected a good church building with 
large audience room, class rooms, healing rooms, 
basement and kitchen. The machinery of his 
church is working with splendid energy. He 
has an assistant pastor, Rev. E. Edward Mills. 
They are holding considerable missionary work 
in sending out teachers and workers in different 
directions." 

In Los Angeles, Cal., the Metaphysical 
Library was founded by Eleanor M. Reesberg, 
in 1902. Miss Reesberg, who was one of the 
pioneer lecturers in California, issues a Meta- 
physicians' bulletin. The May-July number, 
1919, contains the announcement of the sixteenth 
annual Metaphysicians' May Festival, which 
was held in Los Angeles, May 1-3. The speak- 
ers included Harriet Hale Rix, Florence Craw- 
ford, Swami Paramananda, Edward B. War- 
man, W. Frederic Keeler, Jessie W. Boerstler, 
Henry Victor Morgan, and James E. Dodds. 
The Aquarian Ministry, "a Christ-ministry de- 



Other Organizations 243 

voted to healing, teaching and the awakening 
of the latent soul-powers," Geo. B. Brownell and 
Louise B. Brownell, healers, is another branch 
of the therapeutic movement in Los Angeles. 
The Universal New Thought Studio and Lec- 
ture Room is in charge of Miss Grace Wilson, 
formerly secretary of the New Thought Alli- 
ance. The activities of this centre include Sun- 
day services, class instruction, a New Thought 
singing school, healing meetings, and "funda- 
mentals of New Thought for children." Dis- 
trict conferences of the Alliance are held under 
the auspices of Miss Rix, who is vice-president 
for Southern California and Arizona, assisted by 
the teachers and members of the Alliance. 

In Chicago and New York, as in other large 
cities, the movement has passed through all the 
phases from mental science in its early forms 
to the New Thought of the present day, and the 
societies are too numerous for special mention. 
Among recent organizations of note in these 
cities, The League for the Larger Life, New 
York City, is most notable, since it endeavors to 
bring together all centres and leaders in a com- 
mon interest. The officers of the League when 
incorporated were Orison Swett Marden, presi- 
dent; Miss Mary Allen, first vice-president; 
Mrs. Maud P. Messner, second vice-president; 
Eugene Del Mar, third vice-president, since 



244 The New Thought Movement 

chosen president; Dr. Julia Seton, fourth vice- 
president; Mrs. Laura G. Cannon, secretary; 
Charles Crapp, auditor; with Walter Goodyear, 
Miss Edith A. Martin, Mrs. Clara Barstow, 
and Mrs. D. L. Hunt, as additional officers. 
The League issues a directory of teachers of the 
New Thought in Greater New York, holds 
regular Sunday services addressed hy the lead- 
ers, with classes and healing meetings during the 
week. A Union Meeting is held the second 
Sunday of each month. At its headquarters, 
222 W. 72nd St., the League furnishes teachers 
and speakers for public meetings, and supplies 
books through a circulating library and store. 

The League is incorporated under the laws 
of the State of New York, and its purposes are, 
"to spread a knowledge of the fundamental prin- 
ciples that underlie healthy and harmonious liv- 
ing, and which will prevent or alleviate human 
suffering — mental, moral, financial and social; 
to assist the individual in the solution of personal 
problems; to encourage self-reliance, self-mas- 
tery and efficiency through constructive thinking 
and correct psychological and physical methods. 
The League aims to provide a place where 
strangers as well as members may obtain reliable 
information about The Larger Life Movement 
— its centres, lectures, teachers and literature." 

Another branch of the therapeutic movement 



Other Organizations 245 

owes its origin to the work of Dr. Julia Seton, 1 
who chose the name Church and School of the 
New Civilization. The first church was founded 
in Boston by Dr. Seton, in September, 1905, 
now under the leadership of Miss Emma C. 
Poore. The second centre was founded in New 
York in 1907, with Dr. Seton as minister; the 
third in Brooklyn, N. Y., May Cornell Stoiber, 
minister ; the fourth in London, England, Muriel 
Brown, minister. Other churches were estab- 
lished in Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, N. Y.; Chi- 
cago, 111. ; Denver, Colo. ; and one in California. 
These churches were organized on the basis of 
twelve fundamental principles. The school is a 
regular part of the work, and has departments 
devoted to metaphysics, philosophy, mysticism 
and music. 

The central statement is that the "New Civil- 
ization Church came because mankind built it 
with its desires. It is the deep of supply an- 
swering to the deep of need. It will remain be- 
cause mankind can use it as sane, sensible, spirit- 
ual substance, with which he can pass his life 
into higher manifestation of health, wealth, love, 
service and worship. This church believes in 
all churches, all creeds and all people, without 
regard to class, creed or color. Any one can 
come into the new church and learn its funda- 

i Formerly Dr. Julia Seton Sears. 



246 The New Thought Movement 

mentals and principles and return to his own 
church, his own country, his own class, his own 
people and better fulfill his life's destiny. 

"The New Thought church . . . knows no 
evil. It has only the wisdom of a perfected uni- 
verse, in perfect situations, among perfect 
people; there are no errors in the great eternal 
plan. What [man] calls dark and damned is 
to him wholly significant of God — God is All — 
there is no life but God. God had only one sub- 
stance out of which to make the world and that 
was Himself. . . . 

"The new church is filled with a congregation 
who have been redeemed out from all countries, 
all races, all peoples, and all colors into the ONE 
life that is in All and through All. Into this 
great religion has come the evolved Brahman, 
the evolved Buddhist, the evolved Jew, the 
evolved Mohammedan, and the evolved Chris- 
tian, bringing with them all that was worthy to 
exist in the old. These united in a purpose of 
a higher humanity, have formed a fulcrum of 
spiritual power through which the upper masters 
of the spheres can drag onward the whole hu- 
man race." 

After the organization of the Metaphysical 
Club in Boston, the next step was to start similar 
societies in other cities in New England, and 
then to bring the various New Thought Centres 



Other Organizations 247 

into a central organization. Meanwhile the 
movement had been growing rapidly and there 
was a general desire for a society to represent 
New-Thought interests as a whole. Steps were 
taken toward the formation of such a society in 
the summer of 1908. The first meeting of the 
representatives from the New England states 
was held in the Metaphysical Club Hall, Bos- 
ton, November 14, 1910. Mr. It. C. Douglass, 
who was present in behalf of the National New 
Thought Alliance, advocated a federation of cen- 
tres in New England, although the work of a 
federation would be different from that of the 
Alliance. The society was organized under the 
name of the New England Federation of New 
Thought Centres, with Mrs. Sara G. M. La 
Vake, Brookline, Mass., president pro tern., and 
Mrs. Frances Tillinghast, Portland, Maine, sec- 
retary pro tern. It was voted to meet semi-an- 
nually. 

The second conference was held at Worces- 
ter, Mass., March, 1911. The speakers included 
G. Stanley Hall, president of Clark Univer- 
sity, and Mrs. May Wright Sewall. Mrs. La 
Vake was elected president, three vice-presidents 
were chosen; Miss Harriette Bragee, Boston, 
was elected secretary ; and Miss Ardella Farnam, 
Worcester, treasurer. Succeeding conferences 
were held in Portland, Maine, November, 1911; 



248 The New Thought Movement 

Boston, 1912, when Dr. Anna B. Parker of Bos- 
ton, was elected president, Miss Alice E. Strong 
of Boston, secretary, and Mrs. La Vake was 
made honorary president; Lynn, Mass., Novem- 
ber, 1912; Cambridge, Mass., November, 1913; 
April, 1914, when Mrs. Mary E. Chandler of 
Providence, R. I., was elected president. In 
November, 1914, the Federation met at Hart- 
ford, Conn.; in April, 1915, at Boston, Dr. G. 
C. B. Ewell, president; in November, 1915, at 
Stoughton, Mass.; in April, 1916, at Boston un- 
der the auspices of the Church of the Higher 
Life, when Mrs. Mary E. Thayer of Boston was 
chosen president; in November, 1916, at Spring- 
field, Mass.; and in April, 1917, at Boston, in 
co-operation with the New Thought Forum. 
There were then 33 New Thought Centres in 
New England represented in the Federation, 
"banded together in loyal comradeship . . . add- 
ing the zest of a social touch which makes us 
members of one family dwelling together in 
brotherly love." The secretary reported that 
the "smaller centres have been greatly strength- 
ened, with the incentive of individuality in a 
broad cooperation; and the larger centres have 
extended their interest through acquaintance 
with many New-Thought neighbors they would 
never have known except through affiliation. 
For the keynote of our assembling is for mutual 



Other Organizations 249 

aid in living and presenting the truth to each 
other and the world. . . . Many times the small- 
est circles give rich return in our heart-to-heart 
counsel, for the spirit is not measured by num- 
bers." In 1915, the Federation delegated the 
president, Mrs. La Vake, to represent the Fed- 
eration at the congress in San Francisco. 

The Metaphysical Guild of Boston was or- 
ganized for the "Promotion of Spiritual Under- 
standing," and the first meeting was held April 
4, 1915, the first interest being to meet the need 
for a New-Thought meeting in Boston on Sun- 
day evenings, and to give an opportunity to visit- 
ing teachers to address audiences at Metaphysical 
Hall. The speakers have included Walter De- 
voe, Henry Victor Morgan and T. J. Shelton. 
The members assist the New-Thought work in 
various ways, corresponding with people in state 
prisons, visiting the sick, opening homes for 
those in need of friendly service. The Guild 
was organized by Mrs. Clara Haven Wallace. 
The New Thought Library and Reading Room, 
120 Boylston St., the most recently organized 
Society in Boston, is devoted to the same activi- 
ties as those of the Metaphysical Club. The 
New Thought Forum is a free platform for the 
discussion of liberal questions of all types. 
There is also a Home of Truth. Sunday serv- 
ices are held by Miss Poore, Mrs. C. E. C. Nor- 
ris and other leaders. 



250 The New Thought Movement 

The New-Thought movement in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, owes its origin to Christian D. Larson, 
who in January, 1901, organized the New 
Thought Temple, at his residence, 947 West Sev- 
enteenth St. In September of that year Mr. 
Larson began to publish Eternal Progress, for 
several years one of the leading New-Thought 
periodicals. In November, 1902, Sunday morn- 
ing services were inaugurated. At this service 
fifteen minutes' silence was a leading feature. 
A little church building seating three hundred 
people was secured in 1904. Mr. Larson re- 
signed in 1907, and was succeeded by Paul 
Tyner, in November, 1908. Harry Gaze was 
the next leader, and then Miss Leila Simon, in 
1912. 

Miss Simon's report of the situation in Cin- 
cinnati at the time, after a lull in the work there, 
indicates the kind of work sometimes accom- 
plished in building up a society which had lost 
headway. Miss Simon says: "I found the New 
Thought Temple Society struggling along with- 
out a leader, disorganized, inharmonious, with 
forty-seven members on the roster, about one- 
half of which were active. They were without 
adequate funds, and found difficulty in paying 
the small expense of $80.00 per month rent for 
a hall for Sunday services. Besides this deplor- 
able internal condition, New Thought in Cin- 



Other Organizations 251 

cinnati had neither recognition nor standing in 
the community. It was thought to consist of 
long-haired men and short-haired women, who 
were queer, erratic, crazy folk. Today we have 
about nine hundred members, call out an audience 
of fifteen hundred, own property amounting to 
$26,000.00, besides having more than $3,500.00 
in the bank. We have gained the respect of all 
Cincinnati, and number among our members the 
most cultivated and prominent men and women 
of the city. 

"My first New-Thought service brought out 
an audience of less than twenty-five people. 
Two years later I spoke constantly to from 
twelve hundred to fifteen hundred people. 

"From the outset, I considered the work of 
The New Thought Temple entirely separate 
from personality. It was not mine, but impelled 
by the Spirit of God, and it is this conviction 
and consecration that is the moving Power of 
The New Thought Temple. My first thought 
from the beginning of my ministry and today is 
'If you believe in God's power, prove it.' If 
you teach health, harmony and prosperity, fur- 
nish the actual proofs. . . . 

"My first move was to refuse to recognize 
the poverty-stricken consciousness of the New 
Thought Temple actually. I firmly set aside 
all gratuitous invitations from members who of- 



252 The New Thought Movement 

fered to lend their homes for classes, etc., and 
also refused to house the activities in cheap rooms. 
As we had no money this was a radical step. My 
first classes were held in my own apartment, 
situated in the best part of Cincinnati. The 
Sunday services were held in a hall seating one 
hundred people. In less than three months we 
had outgrown this hall, and my apartment class- 
rooms. Before the end of the first year, we had 
audiences of five hundred and were finally 
crowded out of a large auditorium and compelled 
to rent the Orpheum Theatre, (at a weekly ren- 
tal of $55.00), with a seating capacity of fifteen 
hundred, to accommodate the people who wished 
to attend the Sunday services. For two years 
we held services in this theatre with capacity 
audiences. . . . 

"After the first two years, the New Thought 
Temple financed easily without deficit, an ex- 
pense account of $10,000.00 a year. We kept 
to our initial, inflexible rule of paying bills on 
sight, and called into operation the Law of 
Giving and Receiving, by making no definite 
charges either for healing or classes. The third 
year we bought a lot for $12,000.00, paying for 
it in a little more than a year's time. On Octo- 
ber 22nd, 1916, we moved into the lower struc- 
ture of The New Thought Temple, which has 
been erected at a cost of $14,000.00, having all 



Other Organizations 253 

indebtedness discharged on the day we accepted 
the building from the contractors, an unprece- 
dented feat for any church in the city. 

"The New Thought Temple is thoroughly but 
flexibly organized, with a Board of Trustees of 
eleven men. It is the only church in the country, 
I believe, whose membership outnumbers its seat- 
ing capacity, thus necessitating two Sunday 
services to separate congregations. There is a 
marvelous spirit of harmony, cooperation and 
fine unselfish service. Among its activities last 
year [1916] and the year preceding, were a 
free bread-line where more than six thousand 
men a week were fed, and an established mis- 
sion. We have a splendid Sunday-school, 
weekly classes, and give free lectures to the pub- 
lic at intervals in one of the largest theatres in 
the city. Many thousands of people here have 
been influenced and benefited by the New- 
Thought message." 

In St. Louis, Mo., the movement known as 
Practical Christianity was the first to be estab- 
lished, also a German branch of the movement 
under the leadership of H. H. Schroeder, editor 
since 1893 of Das Wort, sl periodical devoted to 
mental-healing for German-Americans. The 
first New Thought Centre was organized Sep- 
tember 23, 1910. A few people who had been 
meeting once or twice a month at a private house 



254 The New Thought Movement 

met on that occasion for a public statement of 
the principles for which they stood. Everett 
W. Pattison was chosen president and the name 
adopted was Metaphysical League. Later, the 
name was changed to New Thought League, 
with Miss Harriet C. Hulick, manager. Meet- 
ings have been regularly held on Sunday and 
Friday evenings. The resident speakers have 
included Charles T. Kenney, Charles P. Tiley, 
P. M. Bruner, and Miss H. C. Hulick. 

The founder of the Order of the White Rose 
and the College of Divine Sciences and Realiza- 
tion, Cleveland, Ohio, Rev. J. F. C. Grumbine, 
began his work in Geneseo, 111., in 1894, and 
with the publication of a quarterly magazine, 
Immortality, in Chicago. Mr. Grumbine was a 
Universalist, then a Unitarian minister. He 
was one of the pioneer New-Thought lecturers 
and teachers, and has taught many hundreds of 
students in Boston and other parts of the United 
States, in Australia and England. His College 
of Divine Sciences and Realization is a corre- 
spondence school and has taught students from 
all parts of the world. Mr. Grumbine calls his 
ideal "Universal Religion," and endeavors to 
show that science is both divine and natural. 
He is lecturer to the Psycho Science Society, in 
Cleveland, whose church buildings include an 
auditorium and parsonage. 



Other Organizations 255 

In Philadelphia, Pa., the pioneer teachers 
were Miss Ellen M. Dyer and Miss Christian. 
A Truth Centre flourished there for a time, and 
later gave place to the Unity Centre and the 
Truth Centre. In Washington, D. C, the 
pioneer teacher and healer was Miss Emma 
Gray, of the Christian Science Institute, now 
known as the National New Thought Centre, 
under the leadership of Miss Gray and Dr. 
Ricker. Miss Gray is vice-president of the In- 
ternational New Thought Alliance for the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and Maryland. Mrs. Flor- 
ence Willard Day began her therapeutic work 
in Washington in 1898, and established The 
Temple of Truth in 1904. 

Starting with borrowed capital amounting to 
$30.00, Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, then Mrs. J. H. 
Struble, has gradually built up a publishing 
house and a magazine, Nautilus, which has prob- 
ably had the largest circulation of any New- 
Thought periodical. Mrs. Towne began with 
the publication of a four -page pamphlet in her 
home in Portland, Oregon. Later, she moved 
to Holyoke, Mass., where with her husband, Mr. 
William E. Towne, she has developed the pub- 
lishing business and taken an active part in New- 
Thought propagandism. Nautilus, sold exten- 
sively on the newstands, has taken the place of 
many of the earlier magazines, and is typical of 



256 The New Thought Movement 

the New Thought in its most popular and pros- 
perous form. 

Unity, Kansas City, is still the representative 
magazine of the branch of the movement known 
as practical Christianity. Its editors and their 
associates have not identified their activities with 
the therapeutic movement in general, but have 
widely extended their influence by organizing 
The Society of Silent Unity, which has many 
thousands of members throughout the world. 
Every day at noon and every evening at nine 
o'clock the members of this society go apart for 
a brief period of meditation on the "class 
thought" sent out by the magazine each month. 
The thought for the noon meditation for April, 
1919, was "Peace be within thy walls, and pros- 
perity within thy palaces," and for the evening, 
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, 
from whence cometh my help." This society 
was organized in behalf of the absent healing de- 
partment of the Unity work. Extensive work 
through correspondence is one of the activities 
centering in Kansas City, where is located The 
Unity School of Christianity, with a fine modern 
building, containing a large auditorium and 
class-rooms. No fees are demanded for mem- 
bership in the Society of Silent Unity, but mem- 
bers are asked to make voluntary contributions 
to defray expenses. Every month the maga- 



Other Organizations 257 

zine prints testimonials as to the value of its work 
in behalf of the sick and those seeking prosperity 
and improved conditions. The announcement 
of the Society says, "You can become a member 
of this Society and receive its help, if you have 
faith in the power of God. We will pray to the 
Father in secret and he will reward you openly. 
This promise is being fulfilled daily in his 
work." 1 

The Unity movement is operated as a corpora- 
tion under the name of Unity School of Christi- 
anity. Remuneration is based on whatever those 
benefited are moved to give. The Unity Tract 
Society is the publishing department of the work. 
The Unity buildings cover more than an acre and 
the publications reach 500,000 people. 

i What we have undertaken to do in this chapter is to give, not 
an exhaustive account of the organizations, but an account of 
those that are typical. Some of the omissions are due to the fact 
that there are organizations which have failed to give the needed 
information concerning their present activities. A few of the 
leaders have preferred to have only brief mention made of their 
work. Further information concerning the societies may be ob- 
tained by consulting the leading magazines, and the bulletins 
issued by the various libraries and centres. The historian will be 
glad to receive additional information from time to time concern- 
ing all the organizations and leaders. 



XII 

THE MOVEMENT IN FOREIGN LANDS 

"The New Thought Movement came because 
mankind built it with their desires." This 
quotation stands at the head of an article on 
"The Great Power in and Through All," by M. 
Douglas Fox, in The Rally, London, the official 
organ of the New Thought Extension Work in 
England. The article is significant and inter- 
esting as an indication of the way in which the 
growth of the movement is regarded in England. 

"If we think for a moment we shall see that 
these words are a demonstration of the great 
cosmic law of demand and supply. Looking 
down the pages of history we find that whenever 
there was a crying, pressing need, and the souls 
of men went out in a great cry to the Infinite 
Source, back from the Source came the supply. 

"For a very long time there has been going out 
from the souls of men a great cry for a wider 
religion and a greater inclusion, and their cry 
has waxed stronger and stronger. 

"At the beginning of the nineteenth century 
the accepted ideas of God had become the op- 
posite of those taught by Jesus the Christ, and 

258 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 259 

they were to all intents and purposes those of 
the Jews of old. God was not a loving, tender 
Father ; but a revengeful, capricious tyrant, who 
placed His newly created spirits in various 
bodies, and strongly contrasted environments. 
Here a child born with a criminal body, with 
wretched surroundings, and little incentive to 
virtue; and there another born of pure parents, 
with good conditions, and little incentive to evil. 

"Yet, the religion of that day, taking no ac- 
count of causes, taught that all the placidly and 
easily good ones would enjoy the everlasting 
bliss of heaven; while all others would find ever- 
lasting torment in the place they called hell. 
Thus God was represented as sitting apart from 
His world, in the bright, clear sky; while the 
devil stalked triumphant through the world. 
But the race-mind was rapidly evolving beyond 
such teaching; it no longer met the need — the 
great yearning of the race. 

"Everywhere men were awaking to consider- 
ation of the inequalities; and the seeming injus- 
tices of human life ; and to their question of why 
these things were so, the Church had only one 
answer, viz., that 'God's doings were inscrutable; 
and must not be questioned.' 

"But the answer to the earnest cry was poured 
out from the Infinite Source of Love; and little 
by little, a more rational religion was filtering 



260 The New Thought Movement 

through the old; and man began to understand 
more and more of his own complex nature, with 
its various planes of expression on which his 
evolution from the atom of God takes place. 

"At the beginning of the nineteenth century 
man knew little of those finer planes of Nature 
which interpenetrate our physical plane; and he 
was ignorant also of the true facts relating to 
the physical plane, and its evolution. 

"Orthodox science taught that man was a 
special creation, owing nothing to the kingdoms 
below him. Darwin's discovery of the evolution 
of the physical man, shattered the old belief, and 
satisfied a small part of man's great longing. 
But there are other and finer planes of man's 
being, which, if he live entirely on the physical, 
must be starved. And so, by giving too much 
consideration to this physical plane, man came 
to think this was all; and to lose his belief in a 
life after death; and to regard death as final. 
Heaven and hell became to him fairy tales to be 
discarded; and his heart sickened and failed be- 
cause of his unbelief. 

"Then came a new philosophy, which declared 
that the dear dead were not lost for ever, were 
not far away; but living and loving still; nearer 
than ever, only on a different plane of life. 

"The spiritualistic movement restored hope to 
many a soul who had lost all joy of life. The 






The Movement in Foreign Lands 261 

astral plane was studied ; and found by many to 
be very wonderful, and very beautiful. But 
this does not comprise all the finer natures, and 
man must learn to live evenly on all planes if 
he would live in Power. 

"The truth about the third plane came to be 
taught by H. P. Blavatsky, from a deep study 
of Eastern lore. The mental part of man, then, 
forms another plane of life; and the discovery 
was followed by an over-appreciation of this 
plane. 

"Then a fuller and deeper revelation was shed 
abroad on the earth, through the Christian 
Scientists, whose teaching that man is a spirit- 
ual being, in a spiritual world proclaimed to the 
world the true nature of man; but while looking 
to the spiritual the Christian Scientists denied 
the physical, which is the garment of the spirit- 
ual ; and equally a part of man. 

"Our New Thought Movement teaches a still 
wider inclusion; having for its first vital funda- 
mental, the one mind in all and through all. 
This is not a religion ; not a sect ; it is a principle, 
which links and unifies the world thought. 

"New Thought is constructive; and will de- 
stroy nothing as it condemns nothing. Its open- 
armed welcome to those of every class, creed and 
color, has drawn into the movement a motley 
crowd; and New Thought is seeking to harmon- 



262 The New Thought Movement 

ize these just as every note in a chord of music 
is harmonized; as the varied tints of a landscape 
create the glorious beauty of the scene ; or as the 
perfume of every flower in your garden mingles 
to make glad the heart of man. 

"We shall never be alike; never think alike. 
There will be sects, and schools of thought. 
There will be greater and stronger individuality; 
but there will be a cessation of the jarring, and 
the jangling of creeds and opinions; a truer lib- 
erty, and a deeper love as we come to realize that 
men, nations and things are joined in the One 
Life in all and through all, and that there is 
nothing outside of God." 

The history of the movement in England did 
not differ essentially from its development in 
the United States. In England as in America, 
interest was aroused by Christian Science, then 
came a gradual reaction and the establishment 
of independent branches of the movement. 
Leaders of the Higher Thought appeared after 
a time, and it became customary for New- 
Thought leaders from America to visit London 
and other cities, exchanging views with English 
leaders and holding classes. Among these may 
be mentioned Mr. Patterson, Dr. Julia Seton, 
who established the New Thought Centre, and 
Mrs. Militz, in connection with her lecturing 
tours of the world. The Woman's Union, on 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 263 

Ebury Street, London, led in time to the Higher 
Thought Centre, 40 Courtfleld Gardens, Ken- 
sington, and some of the leaders, notably Miss 
Alice Callow, secretary, have been connected 
with the work in London from the beginning. 
Similar centres were established in different 
parts of England and Scotland, also in Ireland. 
With the coming of The New Thought Alliance 
to London in 1914, the devotees of the move- 
ment in the British Isles became identified with 
the international movement and the Alliance has 
since been recognized as the world's New 
Thought society. 

The most widely read of the English New- 
Thought writers was Judge T. Troward (1834- 
1916), born in India, educated at the Victoria 
College, Island of Jersey, divisional judge, and 
author of Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science 
and other volumes. 

The Higher Thought Centre in Nottingham 
was established in September, 1906. The New 
Life Centre, a healing and educational home, 
was founded at Spring Grove House, Isleworth, 
London, W., in 1910. Sunday services were es- 
tablished later, and a library, with rooms for 
healing. Spring Grove House has since be- 
come the largest establishment of its kind in 
England, and its founder, Dr. O. E. Miller, one 
of the chief workers. The plan is to build up 



264 The New Thought Movement 

an industrial cooperative educational centre 
where men and women may come to live and en- 
gage in all branches of useful and artistic work. 
A printing department has already been estab- 
lished. Other centres in cooperation with the 
one at Isleworth have been organized in Hast- 
ings and Wolverhampton. In July, 1914, Mr. 
Paul Tyner, who acquired his interest in the 
New Thought from the publications of Helen 
Wilmans, in 1893, became the leader of the New 
Thought Centre, 85 Hanover Street, Edinburgh. 
Mr. Tyner, author of The Living Christ, editor 
of The Temple, Denver, Colorado, and in 1898- 
99 editor of The Arena, was associated with Mr. 
Patterson in the Alliance School of Applied 
Metaphysics, in New York; and, in cooperation 
with Mr. Eugene Del Mar, author of Spiritual 
and Mental Attraction, and The Divinity of 
Desire, organized the first Mental Science Tem- 
ple in New York. He was minister of the New 
Thought Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1909-10, 
and of the Dayton, Ohio, Truth Centre, 1910- 
11. Later, while in New York, Mr. Tyner or- 
ganized in connection with the New Thought 
Magazine, edited by W. W. Atkinson, Chicago, 
111., 140 New-Thought reading rooms in differ- 
ent parts of the country. 

Among others recently to do a large work in 
the British Isles, is Mr. F. L. Rawson of Lon- 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 265 

don, whose teaching is almost identical with 
Christian Science without the claims ordinarily 
made in behalf of Mrs. Eddy. Formerly a con- 
sulting engineer, Mr. Rawson was retained by 
the Daily Express to make a professional ex- 
amination into mental healing. The result was 
the discovery that such healing was practised all 
over the world, and Mr. Rawson became an ard- 
ent therapeutist. During the war he turned to 
the care of soldiers, and in a pamphlet entitled 
How to Protect our Soldiers, he gives what he 
calls the "secret of divine protection." 

In this pamphlet Mr. Rawson says, "Today 
there are many millions of mental workers, con- 
taining some fifty or sixty schools. Only four 
or five of these work on the basis that Jesus did, 
namely, by turning in thought to God. The re- 
mainder work in the same way as the sorcerers 
and witches of the past and the black magic 
workers and hypnotists today, namely, with the 
human mind. This means that they use one or 
other of the five different forms of hypnotism, 
all of which are more or less harmful, not only to 
the patient, but to the practitioner. 

"The real value of my investigation for the 
Daily Express and of Life Understood, which 
contains the results of my work, does not lie 
in proving that all disease is mental . . . Nor 
to prove that matter is mental phenomena. The 



266 The New Thought Movement 

real value lies in proving the difference between 
the right and wrong method of mental work- 
ing. . . . The right method of healing [is] by 
the realization of the divine mind . . . the 
scientific method of right thinking which was 
taught and demonstrated by Jesus the Christ, 
the most perfect and the most scientific man that 
ever lived. 

"There is a hard and fast line drawn between 
the two methods of mental working, and between 
the right and the wrong method of prayer. 
Jesus pointed out the difference more than once. 
If, when you are mentally working, you are 
thinking of reality, that is, of God, of heaven, 
the real world, of the Christ, or of the spiritual 
man, you are helping your patient, yourself, and 
the world. If, on the contrary, you are think- 
ing of the material man or the mental world, 
whatever you are thinking about them, unless 
you are denying their reality, you are harming 
your patient, harming yourself, and doing no 
good to the world. Even by strong, determined 
thinking, or will-power, trying to bring about 
what you think is good, you can neither destroy 
the evil thoughts nor purify the so-called human 
mind. Truth and Love, that is, God, alone 
heals. The healing, then, is perfect and perma- 
nent, whether of disease, sin, or any of the many 
troubles that make this world a veritable hell to 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 267 

so many. . . . Jesus relied on his knowledge of 
God, not on strong thinking and will-power. 
There is no limit to this apparent effect of 
thought. If you are certain enough that you 
are dead, you are dead instantly. ... If, on the 
contrary, you turn to heaven and think clearly 
enough of God, then the action of God takes 
place, and good for all must ensue. . . . You 
have to think of absolute good, the world of 
reality. You have to think of an ideal world, 
the highest good that you can possibly imagine. 
You have to think of God and heaven; heaven 
being a perfect state of consciousness, a mental 
world, in which all is perfect, because all is gov- 
erned by a perfect God, by the Principle of ab- 
solute good. 

"When I found that every thought a man 
thinks has an effect, I came to the conclusion that 
the highest thought I could think ought to give 
me the best result. The highest thought I could 
think was to turn in thought to heaven and real- 
ize the absolute love of God, getting away from 
all recognition of the material world . . . God 
became a living fact to me. . . . Rest on God. 
It is God's business to look after you. . . . The 
realization 'There is nothing but God,' I have 
found the most effective against accidents. Tt 
is a lie ; all is spiritual,' is perhaps easier for some 
to realize. . . . When you see some one in pain, 



268 The New Thought Movement 

instead of thinking of him as in pain and so in- 
creasing it, turn in thought to heaven and realize 
that there is no such thing as pain there, and 
then think of the absolute joy, bliss, and hap- 
piness in that perfect world." 

The pioneer work of Sister Veni Cooper- 
Mathieson in Australia began in 1903, under 
the title of "The Woman's White Cross Moral 
Reform Crusade," and a three years' lecture- 
course in Sydney on "The Truth Seekers." The 
first magazine, The Truth Seeker, was estab- 
lished in January, 1905. In April, 1909, the 
Church Universal in Perth, Western Australia, 
was organized. In December, 1914, this church 
was moved to Sydney, and a Truth Centre was 
established. The first magazine was united 
with The Healer and called The Revealer, in 
1915, the year of the founding of The Univer- 
sal Truth Publishing Co. of Australasia. A 
Home of Truth was also established that year. 

The Church Universal daily affirmation is in- 
troduced as follows in The Revealer, "These 
affirmations are spoken to the Ileal Self, the 
Spiritual Being within each of us. The phys- 
ical body — the flesh and blood — is but the temple 
wherein He dwells, and is therefore but that 
which is at our service to transmute by the Word 
into a Spiritual expression of our real God- 
being, brought forth from the perfect Image. 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 269 

"The real Man and Woman of each of us is 
the Divine Being; and as we allow this true Self 
to rule our lives, we put on the 'Mind of Christ,' 
and so reveal God's Son within the Son of Man. 
As the God-Self thinks and acts through us, so 
will these true ideas — or Immaculate Concep- 
tions — and good healthful thoughts be expressed 
in the outer self — the body — and we thus daily 
build that 'House not made with hands' by the 
Power of Thought, which is the one Creative 
Power of the Universe. 

"Speak the Word only. 'According to Thy 
Word be it unto thee.' 

" Jehovah- Almighty^ Great Father-Mother 
God; I, thy child, acknowledge Thee to be my 
Creator. Thou hast endowed me with all Thine 
own glorious Creative Powers. Thou hast 
given me richly of Thyself. There is noth- 
ing that I lack. All is mine. I am created in 
Thy perfect Image, and as a pure spiritual being 
must reveal Thy perfect Likeness. The Seed 
of the Christ is within me. I am Thine Only 
Begotten and Well-beloved Son, full of Grace 
and Truth. Thy Word is now made flesh and 
dwells in me, the Son of God within the Son of 
Man. Thy Eternal Life is my Life. Thy In- 
finite Wisdom guides me. Thy Wondrous In- 
telligence illumines my mind. Thy Glorious 
Substance feeds me. Thy Perfect Health 



270 The New Thought Movement 

is revealed in me. Thy Infinite Power upholds 
me. Thy Almighty Strength is my support. 
Thy Unchanging Love surrounds me. Thy 
Eternal Truth has made me free. ... 

"With glad recognition of my glorious birth- 
right, I rejoice and give praise unto Thee, my 
Everlasting Father, who liveth, loveth, moveth, 
and hath Thy Perfect Being in me, Thy Be- 
loved Child. God and Man are inseparably 
One, Now and throughout Eternity." 

Mr. Philip O'Bryen Hoare started the New- 
Thought work in New Zealand in 1905. Later, 
Mr. Hoare lectured in New South Wales and 
Queensland, and settled in Adelaide, South Aus- 
tralia, where he established The First School of 
New Thought and Mental Science. Later still, 
Mr. Hoare lectured in Johannesburg, South 
Africa, and reestablished his school of New 
Thought in Melbourne, Australia. 

As elsewhere, the New Thought Alliance has 
been welcomed as the unifying society of the 
mental-healing movement. Miss Eunice Jones, 
Adelaide, is the vice-president for South Aus- 
tralia; Mrs. Preshaw, of Clarmont represents 
Western Australia; Miss Emilie A. Hulett, Mel- 
bourne, represents Victoria; Mrs. Grace Victor, 
North Sydney, is vice-president for New South 
Wales; Miss Grace M. Aguilar, Brisbane, rep- 
resents Queensland. 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 271 

In Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, Mrs. Mel- 
ville Moncrief, vice-president for the Islands, 
reports the establishment of The Happy 
Thought Coffee House on the water-front, a re- 
sort for the men of the streets, the aim being to 
reach the human derelicts, and through a kind 
word and a little material assistance help the 
men to a place where they may be able to help 
themselves. An Employment Bureau, with 
free baths, and a bowl of soup and bread, or 
coffee and doughnuts, for five cents, affords a 
man a place to rest and refresh himself. . . . The 
men are given every freedom. There are no 
rules. They are allowed to play cards and 
smoke, and keep their hats on if they want to. 
. . . An intoxicated man is shown the same re- 
spect as a sober one, and given the same kind of 
treatment. The law of love is put to a practical 
test, and it has been found to work great changes 
in some of these lives. Mrs. Melville and Mrs. 
O. B. Guest give their time to this work, free, 
and employ two assistants to serve the meals. 
New-Thought books are given out when the men 
are ready to receive the new idea. . . . Silent 
treatments have been given the drinking men, 
and many lives have been rehabilitated, and use- 
ful members of society made from men who 
have been on the city's scrap-heap. Other ac- 
tivities in Honolulu consist in class-instruction 



272 The New Thought Movement 

and the general work of the New Thought Cen- 
tre. Mrs. Militz, Mrs. Helen Van-Anderson- 
Gordon, and other leading New-Thought teach- 
ers have lectured in the Islands. 

The pioneer worker in Chile was Georgina 
Hooper de Hammerton, whose interest in the 
inner life began in 1902, when she attended lec- 
tures on spiritualism intermixed with some of 
Swedenborg's teachings, and organized a the- 
osophical society in Valparaiso. The next im- 
petus came from reading The New Thought, 
edited by W. W. Atkinson. The work of heal- 
ing and teaching the New Thought began in De- 
cember, 1904. The only book available in Span- 
ish at that time was a translation of Mr. Trine's 
In Tune with the Infinite. The healing work 
was transferred to Santiago in March, 1910. 
The first organization was founded May 7, 1912, 
the Instituto de Ciencia Mental Armonia, with 
20 members, most of whom had been healed by 
the new method. The first books to be trans- 
lated into Spanish and published in Chile were 
Law of the New Thought, by W. W. Atkinson, 
and Mental Healing Made Plain, by Kate A. 
Boehme. The vice-president for South Amer- 
ica is Margot Polet de Varvalla, of Santiago, 
Chile. 

The work in Brazil began in June, 1907, with 
the founding of the Circulo Esoterico da Cum- 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 273 

munhao do Pensamento, -in San Paulo, on the 
basis of teachings derived from the writings of 
Prentice Mulford, W. W. Atkinson, Yogi 
Ramacharaka, and others. The first magazine, 
the O Pensamento, edited by Antonio Olivio 
Rodrigues, was established in November, 1907. 
The Circulo had in 1917, 7,000 associates in 
Brazil and other lands. There were at that time 
50 allied circles, organized on the same basis as 
the parent circle in San Paulo. Portugese, not 
Spanish, is the language used. O Pensamento, 
the title of the magazine, signifies "Mind." 

It is difficult to obtain information concern- 
ing the influence of New-Thought literature in 
foreign languages. The works of Mr. Trine, 
Dr. Marden, H. W. Dresser, and others have 
been translated into various European lan- 
guages, such as French, German, and Spanish, 
and these books have been extensively sold. But 
since the beginning of the war communication 
has been more or less interrupted. The fate of 
New-Thought books in Germany, for example, 
is matter of doubt. The interesting fact is that 
in Germany, as in other foreign lands, there has 
been a call for such books. 

The International New Thought Alliance has 
steadily extended its work and its influence 
throughout foreign lands. In 1918, the vice- 
presidents outside of North America included 



274 The New Thought Movement 

the following: South Australia, Miss Eunice 
Jones, Adelaide; Western Australia, Mrs. 
Preshaw, Clarmont; Victoria, Australia, Miss 
Emilie A. Hulett, Melbourne ; Queensland, Aus- 
tralia, Miss Grace M. Aguilar, Brisbane; British 
Isles, Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, Limavady, County 
Londonderry, Ireland; France, Mme. Florence 
Struve, Paris; Hawaiian Islands, Mrs. Melville 
Moncrief, Honolulu; New Zealand, Mr. M. 
Walker, Auckland; New Zealand, South Island, 
Mrs. Marie Barrie, Marlborough; Tasmania, 
Mr. Willoughby Connor, Hobart; South Amer- 
ica, Margot Polet de Varalla Miguel-Clara, 
Santiago, Chile. 

Henry Wood's Ideal Suggestion has been 
translated into Chinese. There is a movement 
in Japan known as "Healing by the Good." 
It is a well known fact that mental healing has 
always been in vogue in India from ancient 
times. In the Upanishads there are teachings 
closely resembling those of the New Thought. 
Very little has been done, however, to trace out 
the resemblances. Representatives of the Ve- 
danta philosophy who have lectured in the 
United States have called attention to certain 
points of contact between the ideas that prevail 
in the Orient and those originating independ- 
ently in the Occident. In general, it is plain 
that the New Thought stands for the individual 



The Movement in Foreign Lands 275 

in contrast with the Oriental tendency toward 
mysticism and pantheism. As the New Thought 
works its way into the far East, it will be on a 
practical basis, by supplying a method of reali- 
zation and healing, and an activity or affirmation- 
ism usually lacking in countries where mysticism 
prevails. 

The New Thought has often been stated in 
mystical language, as if it meant the confusion 
of man with God. But there is no advantage in 
such statements. What is meant is individualism 
in the better sense. The New Thought stands 
for the affirmation or freedom of the individual. 
It is thus distinctly American in its idealism. 
There is an advantage in maintaining this its 
distinctiveness, in contrast with Orientalism in 
all forms. 



XIII 

LOOKING FORWARD 

"Never did mankind need the Truth as to- 
day. 1 In the last analysis, thought is the con- 
trolling factor in the universe and men will 
manifest that which they think in their hearts. 
The present war is the product of the old thought, 
as progress is the product of democracy. 

"The whole mental and religious worlds are 
shifting. The old thought has been tried as by 
fire and as ordinarily expounded by its profes- 
sional teachers is found wanting. The world 
is seeking and demanding a constructive religion 
and philosophy that will make impossible all 
future catastrophes such as that which is now 
upon us. 

"This is the opportunity of the New Thought. 
To meet this opportunity, however, we must be 
prepared. The Alliance is an instrument of 
such preparation. To be effective, it must have 
your active support, and this support must be 
not only in your thought, but in outward mani- 
festation. In other words, we want you to talk 
up the Alliance, to get members, to contribute 

i Compiled from the bulletin of the Alliance, June, 1918. 

276 



Looking Forward 277 

financially and to induce others also to contribute. 
We should have in the field now at least one or 
two lecturers and after the war we should have 
many more. These lecturers should be paid so 
that they could be relieved of the need of hold- 
ing private classes and could give their whole 
time to the work of supporting the Truth. 

"This is your work. The Alliance is your in- 
strument for giving the message to the world. 
We now have a foothold in many lands and are 
in a position to spread the gospel of health, 
efficiency, right-thinking and right-living. We 
can introduce all nations to the science of the 
Divine — the New Thought of God and of man 
— that is to make a new heaven and a new earth. 
We are making a definite call upon you to do 
your part. Open your hearts and the Spirit 
will strive with you mightily, as it has striven 
with us, to press forward in this great cause. 

"The Alliance depends upon the Divine Sup- 
ply and we are the avenues through which the 
Divine Supply manifests. We are teaching 
abundance and, therefore, must manifest the 
abundance we teach. Ours is the divinely ap- 
pointed task of spreading the essential Christ 
Truths for the healing of the individual and of 
the nations. The fields are white to harvest. 
All of us must do our full part in preparing to 
spread the message. We have seen the vision 



278 The New Thought Movement 

and must give abundantly of our thought, of 
our time and of our substance to bring it into full 
manifestation. 

"There is a divine urge in the souls of men to- 
ward a new and better humanity. All prophecy 
agrees that the great hour has struck for the end- 
ing of the old order and the beginning of the 
new. The new order must be built on the prin- 
ciples of the Christ. The old order failed be- 
cause it did not live up to His ideals. Its serv- 
ice was a lip service. It did not do His com- 
mandments. These commandments were very 
definitely stated — heal the sick, love one another, 
minister to others, condemn not, have faith in the 
Divine Supply. The nations calling themselves 
Christian have flagrantly violated these com- 
mandments. 'A house divided against itself can- 
not stand.' The time has come when we must 
choose the one thing or the other, either Christ 
or Antichrist. If we choose Christ, it must be 
in no half-hearted way. We must do the works. 

"The fruits of the Spirit are health, happiness, 
peace, good-will, faith, progress, liberty. The 
impulse of the Spirit is in our hearts to lead the 
world to reconstruction, regeneration and per- 
manent peace. We should be ready to take the 
healing message to all who can receive and apply 
it. To do this most effectively, however, we 
must cooperate. 



Looking Forward 279 

"The first requisite of efficiency is self-con- 
fidence — not over-confidence or vanity, but re- 
liance in one's own ability to accomplish the task 
in hand. Of course, knowledge and training are 
necessary, but beyond and above these a spirit- 
ual quality is required — the reliance on the abso- 
lute and perfect faith that with God's help we 
can do the thing we have to do. 

"This attitude of mind is an essential part of 
New Thought teachings. It is a part of the 
gospel of democracy. When men are free to 
use their individual initiative and inner resources, 
they at once become masters of their own destiny 
and their success or failure is in their own hands. 
Freedom alone is not enough unless it is accom- 
panied by the ability, the spirit and the con- 
fidence to use it. Democracy plus New Thought 
make an invincible combination. Democracy 
frees the soul from man-made shackles and New 
Thought teaches it to depend upon the Divine. 

"Thought is the most powerful force in the 
world. 1 It constructs all cities, all works of art, 
all machinery, all invention, all institutions and 
all states. These, however, are but its outward 
and obvious manifestations. It has subtle and 
more far-reaching results. It literally builds 
the body, molds the features, forms the character, 
controls the health, shapes the circumstances, and 

i Compiled from the bulletin of April 15, 1918. 



280 The New Thought Movement 

make the fortune and the happiness or unhappi- 
ness of the individual. 

"In ways that are not yet quite understood, 
but that have been proved by numerous experi- 
ments and are accepted by a considerable school 
of scientific men, our thoughts influence the 
minds of others, for telepathy, or the power of 
mind over mind without the use of visible means 
of communication, is now a generally accepted 
fact. 

"How important is it, then, that we send out 
only good thoughts. It has been said that we 
live not unto ourselves alone, but it can be said 
now with equal truth that we think not unto our- 
selves alone. If angels have influence over the 
minds of men, if the spirits of the dead guide, 
inspire and uplift the minds of the living, they 
must exercise this power through something akin 
to telepathic influence. We who are living, how- 
ever, can exercise an equal influence for good. 
We, therefore, can be good angels to others sim- 
ply by thinking lovingly, constructively, right- 
fully and truthfully of them. 

"By setting aside a short time each day to 
think good thoughts, we serve a two-fold pur- 
pose. First, we improve our own minds and our 
own bodies; second, we send out invisible mes- 
sengers bearing good tidings to the minds of 
others. 



Looking Forward 281 

"Give the world a new thought of Christ. In 
the old thought all parts of the Bible have been 
held equally the word of God. In the New 
Thought, that part of the Bible containing the 
message of Christ is set on a plane above all 
the rest. 1 This new age is to be the Christ age, 
when the Son of Man is to come in the hearts of 
men. In the old thought we have been com- 
promising between Christ and Antichrist. 'A 
house divided against itself cannot stand.' The 
present horror in which the world finds itself is 
not due to the failure of Christianity, because the 
world has not had Christianity of the true sort. 
It is only the failure of the half Christianity in 
which we have masqueraded. 

"We have now come to the dividing of the 
ways. The Christ healing, the Christ love, the 
Christ faith and the Christ peace are to rule in 
the world henceforth and forever. 

"It is the office of the New Thought to build 
the new temple on the corner stone of the Christ. 
This is a spiritual universe. We are made in 
the image of God and are spiritual beings. We 
are not of the beast and have not his mark either 
on our foreheads, nor in our hands, and we must 
proclaim unto all peoples in all lands that a new 
hour has come, that a new day has dawned and 

i Mr. Edgerton's statement in the above is in accord with 
Swedenborg's view that "the Word" is more interior and spiritual 
than the Pauline and other Epistles. 



282 The New Thought Movement 

that the light thereof is the Light of the World. 

"The war is ended and the New Age is here. 1 
The outcome is, perhaps, the most inspiring 
event of the history of the human race since the 
coming of the Son of Man. It is not only an 
end of this, the greatest of all wars, but with the 
right thought and right attitude on the part of 
the free nations, it will be the end of all war. 
It was not an accident that the New Thought 
and other kindred movements were born in this 
age. Rather it is the working out of the Spirit 
and the realization of the prophecy of the com- 
ing of the Christ in human consciousness. 

"This is the golden opportunity for Truth 
teaching. Never has there been a greater dem- 
onstration of the presence of God in the affairs 
of man. Never has there been a more signal 
evidence that this is a spiritual universe. The 
forward strides made during the war have been 
tremendous. Temperance, liberty, democracy, 
the rights of women, cooperation, efficiency, 
spirituality, faith in the right — all of these have 
been advanced, and, above all, a league of na- 
tions has been created that should be a guar- 
antee of the reign of peace, of liberty and of 
righteousness throughout the coming ages. 

"When the New Thought Congress met at 
Boston, the conflict was at its fiercest and no one 

i From the bulletin of the Alliance, December 1, 1918. 



Looking Forward 283 

could certainly prophesy the end. Yet it is a 
happy fact that more than fifty field secretaries 
were elected, a board of lectureship provided for 
and other steps taken that would meet the great 
need for work after the war. This is another 
signal proof of the working of the Spirit, for 
those present were unconscious that they were 
thus preparing for the great work that all felt 
would be done after the war. Most of them, if 
they expressed an opinion at all, thought that 
the conflict might last another year, yet today 
we are at the dawn of peace and have our cam- 
paign planned for the Great Drive for New 
Thought and the Alliance. . . . 

"The first work in the New Age is that of re- 
construction. 1 The nations torn by war and 
revolution must be rebuilt, the war's staggering 
debt must be paid, the wounds of nature and of 
man must be healed, shattered homes and cities 
must be replaced, the shell-torn and burrowed 
earth must be prepared for tillage, new and more 
democratic governments must be erected, the 
place of labor in the social scheme must be deter- 
mined, woman must be enfranchised and her 
place in the business and industrial, as well as 
in the political, world established, the nations 
must be associated to insure liberty and peace for 
the future and, more than all, the thoughts of 

i Alliance bulletin, February 1, 1919. 



284 The New Thought Movement 



men must be turned to the establishment of a 
greater and better civilization than that which so 
nearly ended in wreck in the world war. 

"The old time is as definitely dead as the old 
world that preceded 1914. The New Thought 
is the most vital thing now on this planet. In 
its philosophy is included the things most needed 
in the work of healing the nations and building 
the new order. In a word, this may be described 
as the essential teachings of the Christ. It was 
the neglect of these principles in the so-called 
Christian nations that was largely responsible 
for the failure of the old order. Henceforth all 
peoples must be taught to follow His precepts, 
not so much in form as in spirit and in Truth. 

"Just now it is political settlement that is 
needed. Let us all hold that divine Truth is 
being manifested in the institutions and govern- 
ments of men, that the political structure of the 
future is to be erected, not on the sands of ma- 
terialism, but on the rock of the Spirit, so that 
if the storms again assail it, it will stand. Let 
us hold both the spiritual and the political vision, 
for the only freedom and the only peace are 
those that come of the Divine. We must heal 
the nations as we heal the individual by seeing 
them as manifestations of God. Let us hold 
further that there shall come those who will speak 
the new political gospel to all peoples, of broth- 



Looking Forward 285 

erhood and peace, of justice and freedom, of 
righteousness and industry, of health and pros- 
perity. 

"The world republic is on its way. Earth's 
greatest and happiest age is ahead. Let us hold 
the perfect vision of it in our hearts and thus 
help to bring it into manifestation. 

"This is a spiritual universe and it will re- 
quire a spiritual age to see it in the fullness of 
its beauty and power. Ear has not heard and 
eye has not seen what, is in store for the human 
race right here on this planet. The storm is 
over and the sunlight is breaking in full splendor 
on the greatest and happiest era this world has 
ever known. The Christ is coming in the hearts 
of humanity. 

"God is the only reality and man is made in 
His image. All that is real of us is of Him. 
When we think of ourselves as other than His, 
we are taking on unreality. When we think of 
ourselves as material or as subject to sickness, 
sin and death, we take on the unreality of the 
things we picture and this unreality disappears 
and so much of us as we have identified there- 
with also disappears. The only things that are 
permanent in human history are those touched by 
the far-shining light of God's purposes. God's 
righteousness and Truth triumph forever. Let 
us sing to Him ai new song in this New Day that 



286 The New Thought Movement 

is dawning — a song of healing, of brotherly love, 
of the building of a new heaven and a new earth. 
There are high and sweet and fine thoughts in 
the heart of the world today, and high and sweet 
and fine things will be manifested as the fruit of 
this thinking. In this New Age spiritual things 
are to become as matters of every-day — spiritual 
healing, spiritual communion, spiritual realiza- 
tion. After the crucifixion of humanity comes 
the resurrection. All the world is on tiptoe with 
the expectancy of mighty things, all the pulpits 
of Christendom are echoing to the prophecies of 
the second coming. Whisper this secret into the 
ear of their thought, 'He is already here.' Their 
very expectancy and the world's need has called 
Him. He is incarnated in humanity and His 
mighty works of healing, of blessing and of re- 
deeming are seen all over the earth, for we now 
know the Truth that He knew, that the Father 
in us doeth the works. God is the only reality 
and we are only real so far as we show forth His 
image and identify ourselves with Him and His 
works. All else is vanity. 1 

"It is contemplated holding a Silent Hour 
each day for healing and realization. . . . For 
the present it is suggested that each centre ask 

i That is, according to Mr. Edgerton, the second coming is just 
this spiritual awakening of which the New Thought is a part. 
This is in line with Mr. Evans's view of the New Age in the 
earliest books on mental healing. 



Looking Forward 287 

its members to hold a brief silence, say at the 
noon hour each day, for the healing of the in- 
dividual and of the nations. Let this hour be 
dedicated to the realization of God. It is not 
necessary that any one individual give a full 
hour, or any other stated time, to this silence, but 
he should devote to it a brief time, even though 
but a moment, and this should be within the 
hour set. Let us on each day take some definite 
thought. The first, 'God is Love'; the second, 
'God is Health'; the third, 'God is the Only 
Reality'; the fourth, 'God's image is in me'; the 
fifth, 'The Father in me doeth the works'; the 
sixth, 'God's kingdom is come on earth'; and the ^4. 
seventh, 'The Christ is here in the hearts of hu- / 
manity.' Thus we have one thought for each 
day of the week. Let us think these thoughts 
all together with faith and with power and we 
can move the world. . . ." 

At a meeting to commemorate the founding 
of the Metaphysical Club of Boston, in 1914, 
Mrs. J. A. Dresser indicated what seemed to 
her, as the oldest representative of the therapeu- 
tic movement, "the future for the New 
Thought." The address was interesting be- 
cause it gave expression to another way of in- 
terpreting the movement, in terms of its longer 
history. Mrs. Dresser said in part: 

"We have come together from varied inter- 



288 The New Thought Movement 

ests with one end in view. We stand for the 
ideal that a new life, a new philosophy is coming 
into the world. Some of us are interested in ap- 
plying it to healing; others care more for the 
philosophical elements; others still for its mystic 
* and spiritual factors ; and some for the religious 
point of view it presents; but we are all united 
in the desire to interpret and to understand life 
as a whole in the light of it. 

"As I look back through more than fifty years 
of experience I seem to see something of the 
wonderful leading of the divine providence, and 
I look forward with deepening interest to the 
future which is unfolding. I see how Mr. 
Quimby grasped the thought which we all call 
new. He saw that mind and soul are para- 
mount, that thought is substance, and that even 
love has body, and a power to heal. He saw the 
physical as the body of the inner world and the 
temple of the soul, and like all founders of a 
thing so great, he saw more keenly, more clearly 
and with more rational view, than those who fol- 
lowed him, the value of these truths. . . . 

"You all know how it was with this great 
truth that Mr. Quimby brought to light — how 
Christian ^ Science came, how many followed 
blindly into wide extremes and wild denials of 
the obvious facts of life, unbalanced in irration- 
ality. You all know how the saner ones came 



Looking Forward 289 

back, and now you see the inevitable crumbling 
of that structure before the return of reason. 
And some of you remember the efforts, thirty 
years ago, on the part of those who had become 
interested in these truths — like my husband and 
myself, who had been students under Mr. 
Quimby's care — to begin the movement that has 
led on to this day, and that has ultimately pro- 
duced this Club and spread its influence over the 
land. That evening when this Club was formed, 
a few earnest men and women met to gain 
strength by unity. 1 We were seeking for just 
what Mr. Quimby had sought for years before — 
to understand the relation between the soul, the 
mind and the body, believing that in this lay the 
key to our relation to God and to all life — 
the very secret of philosophy. 

"During the years of Mr. Quimby's practice of 
healing, he had sought for this scientific under- 
standing. He had seen that mind is substance; 
he also saw that there is an intermediary sub- 
stance between mind and body, and he called this 
'spiritual matter.' He said this is the substance 
which receives all impressions both good and bad. 
This is the same intermediary substance which 
the modern scientist speaks of as the 'subcon-. 
scious' mind — that Mr. Frederick W. H. Meyers 
called the 'subliminal self — that Swedenborg 

i In February, 1895. 



290 The New Thought Movement 

means by the 'limbus' — that Dr. Morton Prince 
explains in his new book, The Unconscious, 

"Mr. Quimby's researches were directly in line 
with the best of modern scientific thought, and 
with the best philosophical teaching of the past. 
He hoped to reduce to a science his theory that 
man is here and now a spiritual being, and that 
this intermediary substance of his nature is the 
basis of all his happiness or misery. The divine 
flows in with all love, wisdom and power into 
every human soul, seeking embodiment there. 
In the supraconscious degrees of the mind it is 
received in its integrity. This is the kingdom 
of heaven within. In the conscious mind it is 
received only in part. When the divine finds 
forms corresponding to itself, there it lodges; 
but when the forms are out of correspondence it 
is perverted or lost. The life current is an ac- 
tive force; it is active, creative, formative. In 
the mind of man it must either build up or break 
down the divine image — God's image in man, 
the very tabernacle of the divine life. 1 

"In the latter part of Mr. Quimby's life he 
was seeing more and more clearly that man is an 
instrument and a constant r eceive r of life, not 
a self-possessor of it. And he believed that 

1 The speaker is here setting forth the therapeutic principle as 
derived from the writings of Swedenborg. See Mr. Evans's The 
Mental Cure, p. 76 et seq. 



Looking Forward 291 

sickness and unhappiness are the result of man's 
having closed the doors to the influx of divine 
life, and that health and happiness are regained 
by the process of re-opening them. By the un- 
derstanding and acknowledgment of this rela- 
tion with the Source of life, man finds his health, 
happiness and heaven. . . . [These statements] 
show clearly how this thought should go on. 
They show that to think well, to be rational, we 
must be open, we must seek the truth and face 
squarely our issues; we must deal in facts, in 
verities, and avoid mere beliefs and opinions, 
and affirm only what is true. . . . We hear it 
said that fears must be put away. A fear for 
the New-Thought people to put away out of 
their doctrine and out of themselves, is the fear 
the frankest self-examination and acknowledg- 
ment of what is true in personal defects in our- 
selves or in others can do the slightest harm so 
long as the mind is fixed upon, and dominated 
by, God and the true ideal from Him. . . . 

"The New Thought is an idealistic philosophy, 
its devotees are idealists. As individuals you 
are conspicuous for the ideals you hold, for the 
tenacity with which you hold them, and for the 
power which you ascribe to them. The New 
Thought movement more than any other in our 
day, stands for the affirmative attitude, and to it 
the world is indebted on that account. But its 



292 The New Thought Movement 

weakness has been that in its zeal for the affirma- 
tive it has forgotten the adage of the ancients — 
'Man, know thyself.' It has seen how paralyz- 
ing was the self -analysis and the condemnation of 
evil in the church of the past; and, in the en- 
deavor to break away from every vestige of the 
negative, it has gone to the other extreme. My 
effort would be to help [the movement] to come 
back again, not to a negative point of view, but 
to the rational standard, and to face squarely to- 
ward the truth. 

"I do not ask you to go to some one source 
to gain the insight which shall bring the rational 
basis for New Thought. . . . Let us all, as in- 
dividuals, remember that it is in our lives that 
we must manifest our faith in the truth we have. 
We have only to set aside self-love, self -glory, 
and work earnestly in any cause, by every word 
and deed of love that opportunity offers, to find 
ourselves growing gradually in wisdom and un- 
derstanding, and out of our ills and every form 
of unhappiness. God is everywhere and always 
the same. He is present with His love, wis- 
dom and power ; and, as I have said, where there 
are forms in correspondence with Him there He 
flows in and is. Hence we may have that full- 
ness of power present with us and in us. There- 
fore as He is in me with His transforming and 
renewing power, He can convert my conscious 



Looking Forward 293 

mind into harmony with the supra-conscious, — 
power to convert my subconscious mind and my 
body into harmony with the kingdom of heaven 
within, power when 'my eye is single to fill my 
whole body with light.' 

"I am the last of those who studied with the 
founder of this great movement; let me leave 
with you this final word : Remember all life, all 
goodness and all power come from God. The 
humblest shall be greatest, the last first, and he 
who seeks not for himself, but also longs to serve, 
shall reach the glory and the light. Affirm your 
capacity to receive love, wisdom and power from 
the Lord — affirm that truth — hold to that truth. 
So shall your life be full, and so shall you live 
your life in service, and find it gloriously in Him. 
The truth shall make you free." 



XIV 

KINDRED MOVEMENTS 

Very little effort has thus far been made to 
put the New Thought in intelligible relation 
with other types of thought. Christian Science 
has been abundantly criticized, and it has been 
duly recognized by makers of dictionaries and 
encyclopedias; but ordinarily it is defined or ex- 
plained as if it were the only phase of the men- 
tal-healing movement. The clergy gave early 
recognition to the movement, but usually without 
recognizing that it possessed any particular 
value. Rev. C. A. Bartol, a prominent Unita- 
rian clergyman, preached a sermon on it in Bos- 
ton, May 4, 1884. Adverse criticisms appeared 
in the Andover Review, March, 1887, in an ar- 
ticle by Rev. Dr. Denison of Williams College; 
and in The Century, July, 1887, in an article by 
Rev. Dr. Buckley. Other criticisms have ap- 
peared from time to time, including Spiritual 
Healing, by Rev. W. F. Cobb, London, 1914, 
and The Psychological Phenomena of Christian- 
ity, by Rev. Dr. Cutten. But such studies have 
nearly always been based on an outsider's obser- 
vation, not on actual experience with the phe- 

294 



Kindred Movements 295 

nomena described. Hence these studies have led 
to no definite results. 

In an article entitled "New Thought" in the 
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, H. A. Youtz has 
given a fairly intelligible account of some phases 
of the New Thought. But this writer has er- 
roneously attributed the New Thought entirely 
to Christian Science. He does not mention 
Quimby or Evans, and seems entirely unaware 
that there was a long period of development of 
mental healing in America prior to the interest 
which separated off from Christian Science and 
joined mental science. The bibliography is of 
slight value. It contains the titles of only a few 
of the leading books on the subject. 

The article on the New Thought in the Ency- 
clopedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume IX, is 
by A. B. Allen, a New-Thought writer, and it is 
excellent as a general statement of the movement 
and what it stands for. But in the bibliography 
Mr. Allen mentions those books only which are 
most in line with his own interpretation. He 
does not mention the early or more important 
books at all. He refers neither to Quimby nor 
to Evans, and seems unaware that the New 
Thought has had a history. The bibliography 
is not representative. 

In his American Thought from Puritanism 
to Pragmatism, New York, 1915, Dr. Wood- 



296 The New Thought Movement 

bridge Riley devotes a section to "Benjamin 
Rush and Mental Healing," in which he discusses 
Dr. Rush's Influence of Physical Causes upon 
the Moral Faculty. He also mentions Rush's 
Diseases of the Mind, 1812, under the head of 
materialism. That is to say, this type of men- 
tal healing was not "mental" at all as the term 
is understood by disciples of the New Thought. 
Dr. Riley then goes on to speak of Charles 
Poyen, author of Progress of Animal Magnet- 
ism in New England, 1837, and of the "whole 
tribe of Yankee magnetic healers," with the re- 
mark that "this is not the place to show how this 
exaggerated materialism was turned into a propa- 
ganda among the pious. It would lead to a 
long digression to explain the incredible mix- 
ture of religion and medicine which has been 
noted by foreign observers. . . . Nor have we 
time to more than suggest the direction of the 
other line of development of mental medicine." * 
By "the incredible mixture" Dr. Riley prob- 
ably means Christian Science. But why should 
he not give attention to what he calls "the other 
line of development," since it has become a char- 
acteristic form of "American thought"? He 
does indeed touch upon its resemblance to tran- 
scendentalism, and he refers to Emerson's doc- 
trine of self-reliance. But he thinks it would 

i Pp. 104-117. 



Kindred Movements 297 

have been better if mental healing had followed 
the development of scientific therapy in France, 
or had returned to the materialism of Dr. Rush. 
He seems unmindful of the fact that one of 
the investigators who reacted against "the Yan- 
kee magnetic healers," Mr. Quimby, developed 
in a direction far removed from materialism, and 
led the way to a whole line of literature, begin- 
ning with the works of Rev. Mr. Evans. To 
him the New Thought would probably seem in 
some respects an "incredible mixture." Hence 
materialism would be preferable. But it is 
hardly the province of the historian to indulge in 
pronounced preferences. It is matter of his- 
tory that the New Thought is a typical ex- 
pression of American thought on its practical 
side. The "mixture" is no more incredible than 
Christianity itself. The original gospel included 
both piety and healing. 

The difficulty usually is that writers who judge 
mental healing from the outside start with the 
presupposition that all genuine mental healing 
is "scientific," meaning by "science" the kind of 
physiological psychology which is solely con- 
cerned with facts, the facts of the dependence 
of the mind's states on the brain. Munster- 
berg's Psychotherapy is an extreme instance of 
this kind of psychology, a disguised materialism 
"made in Germany." H. Addington Bruce's 



298 The New Thought Movement 

Scientific Mental Healing is a step in advance of 
this, but still looks toward "science" in the nar- 
rower sense, hence it overlooks the values of the 
New Thought. So, too, books like Lawrence's 
Primitive Psychotherapy and Quackery, Boston, 
1910; and Cutten's Three Thousand Years of 
Mental Healing, New York, 1911; or Dr. T. S. 
Clouston's Mind-cures from a Scientific Point of 
View, are chiefly interesting from the point of 
view either of general curiosity or of an external 
study of the subject. Cobb's Spiritual Heal- 
ing, London, 1914, comes much nearer the inner 
point of view, and is of value as a spiritual his- 
tory of healing prior to the nineteenth cen- 
tury. But what one misses is an interpretation 
of healing from the inside, as experienced by the 
individual. Even Hudson, in his Law of Men- 
tal Medicine, Chicago, 1903, fails to give us 
this interior interpretation. Hudson is best 
known for his exaggerated emphasis of the dif- 
ference between the so-called subjective mind 
and the objective mind. The disciple of the 
New Thought who knows the therapeutic ex- 
perience from within would speak rather of the 
different levels or planes of consciousness, and of 
the ideals with the highest level or "real self." 
In contrast with physiological psychology re- 
garded as "science," the advocate of the New 
Thought holds that a higher or spiritual science 



Kindred Movements 299 

is implied in what we know and believe concern- 
ing this, the spiritual level of human conscious- 
ness. 

The time appears to have come when the New 
Thought should be judged dispassionately. It 
is not a mere question of science, or of any spe- 
cial phase of the New Thought advocated by 
this or that leader as a commercial enterprise. 
No list of books prepared to enlighten the pub- 
lic can be complete without including at least 
one volume by Mr. Evans; one or two of the 
period from 1894 to 1900, when the organiza- 
tions were taking shape; and several of the more 
popular books, such as Miss Cady's, or those by 
Mrs. Militz, which have given shape to the move- 
ment in the West. The side-lines and allied 
teachings have developed without number. Thus 
there is a whole literature of books on success, 
such as those by Dr. Marden, whose work began 
with books like Pushing to the Front. But what 
is needed in the first place, if the New Thought 
shall be recognized as distinctive, is an under- 
standing of the central principles as they have 
been developed out of the therapeutic experi- 
ence. For it is this experience which led the 
way to the psychology deemed so baffling by the 
partisan of the special sciences. 

While most of the New-Thought periodicals 
have represented certain phases of the movement 



300 The New Thought Movement 

only, some have given impartial expression to 
its manifold tendencies. Dr. Winkley's maga- 
zine, Practical Ideals, was of that type. The 
Metaphysical Magazine, March, 1901, contained 
an article by Eliza Calvert Hall entitled "The 
Evolution of Mental Science," which was a 
thoughtful contribution. In Mind, biographical 
studies of mental-healing leaders were published 
from time to time, most of them accurate. Mr. 
Paul Tyner contributed to the American Review 
of Reviews, 1902, an article entitled "The Meta- 
physical Movement," containing studies of New- 
Thought leaders, such as Henry Wood, Helen 
Wilmans, C. C. Post, Fannie James, Mrs. 
Cramer, R. W. Trine, and C. B. Patterson, based 
on sketches written by the leaders themselves. 
Mr. Tyner's exposition of the movement as a 
whole was impartial. The difficulty thus far 
has been that people interested in the movement 
have not brought together such material as might 
be deemed impartial for the sake of estimating 
the human equation in relation to the movement 
and giving each tendency its proper place. No 
one who has undertaken to expound the move- 
ment for the sake of fostering interest in a par- 
ticular phase of it has adequately treated its 
other phases. The effort would be worth while, 
for there might be less reason for the existence 
of so many variations. 



Kindred Movements 301 

It would be profitable, for example, to con- 
sider just what elements Christian Science con- 
tributed to the movement, and how these might 
be stated so as to assimilate their practical values 
without "metaphysics," that is, the abstract prin- 
ciples brought over by the pioneers of Divine 
Science and other variations. The term Chris- 
tian Science was freely used for a time, as if 
there were no differences. Thus Dr. Holcombe, 
for example, for the most part a follower of 
Swedenborg, but who identified the teachings of 
Mrs. Eddy and those of Swedenborg in a way 
that did not please the devotees of either, used 
the term in his Condensed Thoughts on Christian 
Science, 1889, in which he calls attention to the 
"immense power of thought" and points out that 
"evil or false thought repeats or pictures itself 
organically in the diseased tissues of the body." 
Such pamphlets would not be classified under the 
head of Christian Science today. The history 
of the movement shows that this term has become 
more distinct. It is no longer a synonym for 
mental-healing in general. This gives the 
greater reason for making the New Thought 
more distinctive, so that in dictionaries and ency- 
clopedias as well as in libraries it shall be properly 
classified. 1 

i The general term now used in some of the large libraries is 
"psychological medicine." This term is too widely inclusive. 



302 The New Thought Movement 

Looking back over the history of the move- 
ment we note that there has been a long struggle 
to avoid confusions and misunderstandings. 
Spiritism or spiritualism was the first movement 
to be confused with mental healing, after Mr. 
Quimby gave up mesmerism and began to prac- 
tise healing. This confusion of mind was nat- 
ural inasmuch as spiritism in its popular form 
was before the public. From the beginning of 
his practice to the end, it was necessary for Mr. 
Quimby to show that he did not perform his 
cures by the aid of spirits or mediums. Later, in 
the mental-science period, when mental healing 
attracted wider attention, a different kind of re- 
lationship came into being. Spiritualists began 
to manifest interest in mental healing and to 
practise it in their own way. Then a prominent 
spiritualistic healer, Miss Susie C. Clark, became 
associated with the New Thought, and took part 
in the first New Thought convention in Boston. 1 
Thus the hypothesis that some diseases are due 
to obsessing spirits came somewhat into vogue. 
There are of course points of resemblance be- 
tween the philosophy of spiritism, known as spir- 
itualism, and the New Thought. There is every 
reason to acknowledge these points of contact. 
The New Thought healer, however, would point 

i See her essay, "Is Mental Science Enough?" The Spirit of 
the New Thought, p. 171; also A Look Upward, Boston, 1891. 



Kindred Movements 303 

out that mental or spiritual healing as practised 
since the days of the discovery of the silent 
method by Mr. Quimby is not carried on by the 
aid of spirits and is not due to mediumship. On 
the other hand, a spiritist might accept all the 
teachings of the mental healers and assimilate 
these in his own fashion. 1 

The next movement to be somewhat connected 
with mental healing was the theosophical move- 
ment, for example, in the writings of Miss Bar- 
net, mentioned above. Again, there are points 
of resemblance, and these would be especially in- 
teresting to any one concerned to trace out an- 
cient ideas of mental healing in the sacred books 
of India, the sources of theosophy. A theoso- 
phist might assimilate the New Thought and 
practise mental healing in the same way as the 
healers. The writings of Annie Besant and oth- 
ers make clear the power of thought. The the- 
osophists have much to say about "planes" and 
"auras," and other subjects of interest to dev- 
otees of the New Thought. But there are many 
theosophical tenets that are very distinctive and 
these should be judged in connection with theoso- 
phy, not confused with or identified with the New 
Thought. The inculcation of the theory of re- 
incarnation is, for example, a distinct propa- 
gandism among theosophists. The question 

1 See Handbook of the New Thought, p. 74. 



304 The New Thought Movement 

would be, as I have queried elsewhere, "whether 
the doctrine of reincarnation affords the best 
plan for the emancipation of the individual. 
Theosophy is surely right in its firm emphasis 
on the law of action and reaction. Here it har- 
monizes with the New Thought. But some of 
us are led to look at the question of salvation at 
very close range, instead of holding that we are 
loaded with the accumulated deeds ( Karma) of 
past existences, or accepting the theosophical mo- 
tive for avoiding rebirths. Practically speaking, 
we may be very sure that we are building up a 
future which will correspond with the prevailing 
love of the soul." 1 

Followers of the New Thought manifested 
great interest in the Emmanuel movement when 
it was first organized. For it was the first move- 
ment within the Church looking forward to an 
assimilation of the therapeutic principles. But 
it soon became clear that this movement was a 
compromise. Its leaders were wholly acceptable 
clergymen. They were well trained in modern 
psychology. They understood the phenomena 
of suggestion, as their leading book shows, Re- 
ligion and Medicine, by Dr. Ellwood Worcester 
and others. But patients were accepted only in 
case regular physicians pronounced their cases 
eligible for psychotherapeutic treatment. This 

i Handbook of the New Thought, p. 73. 



Kindred Movements 305 

meant reliance on the old-time methods of diag- 
nosis. It limited and defined the practice of 
suggestion, whereas the followers of the New 
Thought acknowledge no such limits. Hence 
the Emmanuel workers have come to occupy a 
distinctive place, and to advocate principles 
which they would defend on a scientific basis. 
By contrast they would classify the New 
Thought as "unscientific," while acknowledging 
that there are practical ideas in New Thought 
books. I have traced out this contrast more at 
length elsewhere. 1 

Again, mental healing has sometimes been 
confused with hypnotism. This confusion is as 
old as the movement, since it was difficult for one 
who had not received his treatment to understand 
why Mr. Quimby's method was radically differ- 
ent from hypnotism, then called mesmerism. 
Mrs. Eddy, then Mrs. Patterson, understood the 
difference and did what she could to clear up the 
confusion. 2 But then, unluckily, she brought 
forward the gratuitous hypothesis of "malicious 
animal magnetism," and weak minds acquired a 
new fear, lest it were possible for a supposed 
enemy to employ evil suggestions. The move- 
ment known as "suggestive therapeutics" sprang 

iA Physician to the Soul, p. 94; A Message to the Well, p. 78; 
Handbook of the New Thought, p. 5. 

2 See True History of Mental Science, p. 30. 



306 The New Thought Movement 

up after the mental-science period, when men- 
tal healing became more popular, and there were 
several periodicals, notably Hypnotic Magazine 
and Suggestion, devoted to the subject. Nat- 
urally, the new therapeutists claimed that all the 
results attained by mental healers could be ac- 
complished through hypnotic therapeutics. Dev- 
otees of the New Thought of course object that 
they do not put their patients into the hypnotic 
sleep, and that they do not try to control the 
mind but to benefit it, by offering suggestions 
which may be freely accepted or as freely re- 
jected. They would take radical exception to 
a book like Hypnotic Therapeutics, by Dr. J. D. 
Quackenbos. 1 On the other hand a writer who 
began with Christian Science, passed through 
mental science, and then studied physiological 
psychology, Charles M. Barrows, shows in Sug- 
gestion Instead of Medicine that suggestion may 
be practised on a scientific basis without hypno- 
tism. 

Psycho-analysis as practised by Freud and his 
school is nearer the New Thought than sugges- 
tive therapeutics or hypnotic therapeutics, for the 
psycho-analysts do not practise hypnotism or 
mere suggestionism, their efforts being to under- 
stand the hidden motive or mental cause of dis- 
ease. The New-Thought healers do not employ 

i See criticism of this book in A Message to the Well, p. 71. 



Kindred Movements 307 

the Freudian technique, they do not analyze 
dreams or specialize in nervous disorders traceable 
to sexual suppression. But they might well as- 
similate some of the results of Freudian psychol- 
ogy. That psychology is profound. It throws 
light on the nature of desire, the will, and the love- 
nature. The mental-healing movement, since 
the days of one of its best books, The Mental 
Cure, by W. F. Evans, has almost forgotten the 
will. It has given almost exclusive attention to 
thought as the "greatest power in the world." 
Freud leads the discussion back to its deeper 
basis. To rediscover the will might be to redis- 
cover Mr. Evans's first book, and a really pro- 
found psychology of the will on a spiritual basis. 
Devotees of the New Thought would rightly ob- 
ject that the Freudian psychology is not spir- 
itual. 1 They could throw light on other phases 
of man's nature not discussed by Freud. 

It would take us too far afield to trace out the 
connection between the New Thought and re- 
cent religious literature bearing on mental heal- 
ing. From the days of Mr. Evans until the 
present time many variations of mental science 
and the New Thought have been formulated by 
ministers. Christian Pneumatopathy, by Rev. 
William I. Gill, Boston, 1887, was one of the first 
of these. Such books have been more numerous 

i See Handbook of the New Thought, p. 173. 



308 The New Thought Movement 

since the Emmanuel movement came into being. 
For example, Mind, Religion, and Health, by 
Rev. R. MacDonald, 1908; Health and Happi- 
ness, by Bishop Fallows, 1909; Mental Medicine, 
by Rev. Oliver Huckel, 1909. These books be- 
long for the most part to a later generation than 
mental science. Mr. Huckel apparently did not 
know that he was taking the title of a much bet- 
ter book than his own by Mr. Evans, published 
1872. Most of these books fail to claim as much 
for mental healing as devotees of the New 
Thought could claim for it. They are wel- 
comed, however, as indicating the growing ac- 
knowledgment of the therapeutic power of 
Christianity. With the New Thought, they em- 
phasize "suggestion" as the central factor in men- 
tal healing. 

There is less in common between socialism and 
the New Thought. Followers of the latter have, 
to be sure, shown great interest in social ques- 
tions, and these matters were often discussed by 
Mr. Pennock, Mr. Sprague, and others in the 
Metaphysical Club, Boston, in the early days. 
But the New Thought emphasis is upon the inner 
life as "attracting" the conditions which corre- 
spond with the state of the soul, not with the 
outward conditions which, according to most so- 
cialists, must first be changed before there can 
be freedom. For the most part, socialism and 



Kindred Movements 309 

the New Thought are sharply contrasted. With 
Christian socialism, however, there are points of 
contact. In a work like Miss Scudder's Social- 
ism and Character, devotees of the New Thought 
would find much to accept. 

The movement for the emancipation of woman 
has won the attention of New Thought leaders 
from the start. The mental-science period was 
a time when men took the lead for the most part. 
The Metaphysical Club was organized by men as 
the original promoters. But women began to 
take a more prominent part, until in time that 
organization became and has remained essen- 
tially a woman's club. In the Middle West and 
far West, many of the pioneer workers were 
women. Mrs. Van-Anderson organized the 
first New-Thought church. Many other leaders 
among women have done pioneer work. After 
1890, there were probably more leaders among 
women than among men. The New Thought 
became in fact one of the signs that "this is 
woman's day." Mr. Quimby set the example 
from the beginning by placing fundamental em- 
phasis on the power in which woman excels, in- 
tuition, and on love as the highest quality of the 
inner life. Strictly speaking, it has not been a 
question of man or woman, but, as among the 
Quakers, of those who have "leadings" to speak 
or heal. 



310 The New Thought Movement 

The New Thought has also been identified in 
part with the movement in behalf of peace. This 
was plain from the start at the Greenacre con- 
ferences, where advocates of peace and disciples 
of the New Thought met on the large construc- 
tive basis pleaded for by Miss Farmer. Nat- 
urally, the advocate of mental healing places first 
emphasis on the inner life, and so looks forward 
to a campaign of education in behalf of peace. 
Then, too, the more spiritually minded regard 
the therapeutic movement as a revival of Chris- 
tianity, the Gospel of Peace. It does not ap- 
pear, however, that any of the New-Thought 
people went so far as to become pacifists in the 
objectionable sense, that is, the sort who blocked 
proceedings making for the success of the Allies. 
At the rally which brought the convention of 
September, 1918, to a close the following resolu- 
tion, representing the New Thought movement 
the wide world over, was unanimously adopted : 

"Resolved, That the International New 
Thought Alliance in convention assembled in 
historic Faneuil Hall, Boston, September 22, 
1918, place on record our unbounded loyalty to 
America and her Allies in this new and greater 
struggle for justice and freedom, pledge both 
in spirit and in service our whole-hearted sup- 
port to the prosecution of the war to a victorious 



Kindred Movements 311 

and speedy end, and express our unwavering 
faith in the final triumph of democracy and 
truth ; furthermore, we recommend to all our cen- 
tres and members in the United States the pro- 
motion of the Fourth Liberty Loan and the ac- 
tive observance of October 12th as Liberty Day 
in accordance with the proclamation of President 
Wilson." 

The relationship of the New Thought to the 
Church involves the whole history of the move- 
ment from the time Mr. Quimby reacted against 
the old theology, and was followed by Mr. J. A. 
Dresser, Rev. W. F. Evans, originally a Metho- 
dist minister and later a New Churchman; and 
the Unitarians, Dr. Winkley, Mr. Rodman, Mr. 
Chesley, and others active in founding the Meta- 
physical Club. In its bulletin for August 1, 
1918, the International New Thought Alliance 
says, speaking of the New Thought, "Its funda- 
mental principles are constructive thinking, heal- 
ing, prospering in the Truth, and creating as 
nearly as may be in a practical, common-sense 
way, the Kingdom of Heaven here and now — in a 
word, the application of the essential teachings of 
the Christ. It is not a church, but in it are mem- 
bers of almost all churches. It believes in the de- 
pendence on the Divine in every thought we think 
and every act we do, since we are one with the 



312 The New Thought Movement 

Divine and our good is always with us. The 
New Thought is the religion of democracy and 
all in it are free in the freedom of Truth." 1 

The New Thought has doubtless played a part 
in emancipating people from the old theology. 
The connection between the New Thought and 
religious liberalism has been more pronounced 
since 1895. The first people to leave the Church 
and espouse mental healing were formerly ortho- 
dox. But more Unitarians and other religious 
liberals changed over after a time. The implied 
theology of the New Thought has always been 
liberal. The correspondence between religious 
liberalism is so close at many points that some 
of the New-Thought leaders have believed that 
the best way to give New Thought its proper 
setting is to identify it with religious liberalism 
in general, unmindful of the fact that it is its 
therapeutism which makes the New Thought dis- 
tinctive. 

Thus in a book entitled New Thought, Its His- 
tory and Principles, W. W. Atkinson devotes 
much space to matters which have little connec- 
tion with the New Thought. One sentence only 
is devoted to the pioneers of the movement, other 

i Mr. Edgerton's purpose as president of the Alliance is to 
show that it is "wholly a spiritual confederation and not an in- 
stitution in the ordinary sense. At the same time it seems to be 
developing a definite purpose in making the New Thought move- 
ment an avenue of expression of the Christ teachings to this age." 



Kindred Movements 313 

leaders being referred to as "forgotten." Due 
credit is given Mrs. Eddy, to be sure, as the 
one "who did more than any other person to 
make popular the healing of the body by meta- 
physical methods"; but nothing is said to indi- 
cate the sources of Mrs. Eddy's methods and 
ideas. Mr. Atkinson summarizes the New 
Thought under three general heads, and then 
says that in these principles "we find a funda- 
mental truth of idealistic philosophy, as old as 
the history of philosophic thought. There is 
nothing new about this truth. The same thing 
has been said by the ancient philosophers of 
India, five thousand years ago; by the philoso- 
phers of Greece, twenty-five hundred years ago; 
by Berkeley, Hegel and Kant, and their follow- 
ers." 

The objection to this effort to give the New 
Thought such a long history is that a statement 
so general as "an infinite and eternal spiritual 
Principle of Being," has never led to any defi- 
nite practical result. The New Thought differs 
from the idealisms of the past just because it 
disregards them and starts on a practical basis. 
Luckily, its pioneers were uninformed in these 
ancient systems. The resemblances to the meta- 
physical systems of the past were not traced out 
until Mr. Evans set the example in his Divine 
Law of Cure. 



314 The New Thought Movement 

It was customary in the early conventions to 
formulate statements as general as those quoted 
above, for example, "Divine Science accurately 
proves the unity of God with all living." This 
custom was in line with the tendency to invite 
ministers and leaders of thought to speak in the 
conventions and hold office. But it was realized 
after a time that a scattering of forces was the 
result. Some of the leaders of the movement 
withdrew from active connection with the con- 
ventions because the meetings had become so gen- 
eral. Statements like the above gave the out- 
sider the impression that the New Thought was 
as general as the vaguest kind of mysticism or 
pantheism, whereas the ideas which gave the 
movement its life and being were practical, clear- 
cut and specific. 

Fortunately, there was a reaction against this 
vagueness in the later conventions, and promi- 
nence was given to the actual leaders of the move- 
ment, in contrast with people only partly in sym- 
pathy. It would be an endless undertaking to 
trace the resemblances between the vaguer form- 
ulations of the New Thought and past and 
present mysticisms. The New Thought lost 
power whenever it became general. This was 
clearly seen in the Metaphysical Club of Boston, 
during a period when a wide diversity of speak- 
ers were invited and the distinctive interests were 



Kindred Movements 315 

temporarily obscured. The International New 
Thought Alliance has been more successful than 
the earlier organizations, not merely because its 
statements have been more definite but because 
it has overcome the individualism which once 
made it difficult to organize a successful conven- 
tion really devoted to the subject. 

Meanwhile, the kindred movements have been 
indeed specific. Each has come to occupy its 
distinctive place and to be so classified, as in the 
case of the Emmanuel movement. The "aver- 
age reader" has become enlightened. It has 
been less necessary to show wherein theosophy or 
spiritism differ from the New Thought, for ex- 
ample; since everybody has come to understand 
the differences for the most part. The result 
has been a gain for the New Thought. 

The same tendency toward unity and direct- 
ness is seen in the case of names, terms, and the 
periodicals representing the movement. The 
term New Thought has taken the place of nearly 
all its forerunners. There is now just one in- 
ternational society representing the whole men- 
tal-healing world outside of Christian Science. 
Of the sixty or more miscellaneous publications 
standing for various phases of the movement 
only a very few remain. Meanwhile, some of 
the leading publications, such as Unity, Nauti- 
lus, and Master Mind, have grown in circulation 



316 The New Thought Movement 

and have taken the place of dozens of magazines 
which once existed. There is no periodical at 
present of the type of Practical Ideals, Mind, or 
The Metaphysical Magazine. But the oft-re- 
peated ideas which have made the movement pop- 
ular are well represented in the existing publica- 
tions. 

It can hardly be said that the same improve- 
ment has been made in the books. There were 
formerly too many in circulation. The inquirer 
was confused by such a diversity of opinions. 
But some of the earlier books were the best. La- 
ter leaders have of course wished to increase their 
following, and so have issued books containing 
variations of the current ideas without number. 
But few writers have undertaken to establish or 
prove what they said as did Mr. Evans in The 
Mental Cure and other volumes. The tendency 
has been to neglect some of the profounder views 
and to state those only which are calculated to 
guarantee the instant healing of all ills and the 
bringing of all kinds of success and prosperity. 
The more dignified New Thought of Henry 
Wood's time was surely very different from 
this. 

What is needed, if the movement is to grow, 
is an effort to collect the main facts in typical 
instances of mental or spiritual healing; to un- 
dertake the exposition or description of these 



Kindred Movements 317 

typical instances and then their interpretation in 
terms of spiritual philosophy. Very little head- 
way has in fact been made on the scientific side 
of the therapeutic movement. There has been 
so much interest in a speculative science in imi- 
tation of Christian Science, that the spiritual 
science for which Quimby pleaded has been for- 
gotten. Thus we have had Divine Science, the 
Science of Being, Mr. Whipple's metaphysics, 
and any number of variations, modelled after 
Mrs. Eddy's theory. There has been little in- 
terest in facts and their interpretation. 

There is need of return to the Gospels to dis- 
cover there the higher science for which Mr. 
Quimby pleaded. What Quimby did was to 
throw out a suggestion in that direction, or state 
an ideal. It remains for lovers of truth who 
care more for spiritual truth in itself than for 
any formulation of their own to seek out the 
universal spiritual science, the interpretation of 
the Bible which shall be demonstrable in itself. 
Then we shall pass beyond the individualistic in- 
terpretations which differ so widely and are in- 
telligible only to those who hold the particular 
theory in question. There will then be no need 
of so-called Christian Science, Divine or mental 
science, or Christian metaphysics; for the par- 
ticular theories will have been assimilated, in so 
far as true, in the larger, universal spiritual 



318 The New Thought Movement 

science. It will no longer be a question of mine 
or thine but of the divine truth of the Living 
Word. 

To return to Quimby and Evans in this larger 
quest for truth would be to raise the question, 
what is the relationship of Swedenborg and his 
writings to the New Thought movement? Some 
have supposed that Mr. Quimby derived his 
teachings in part from Swedenborg. But there 
is no direct evidence in support of this assump- 
tion. Mr. Quimby may have discussed the 
teachings of Swedenborg with the New-Church 
minister in Portland, but there is no indication 
of any influence coming from that quarter in 
Quimby's writings. The most we can say is that 
Quimby belonged to the new age whose coming 
Swedenborg foretold. Quimby's teaching coin- 
cided with Swedenborg's at certain points, but it 
remained for Mr. Evans to detect the resem- 
blance and to look to Swedenborg's writings to 
find the fundamental basis for Quimby's theory 
of spiritual healing. 

After Mr. Evans's day, Dr. Holcombe was the 
first reader of Swedenborg to expound mental 
healing. Rev. C. H. Mann has given an ad- 
mirable exposition of some of Swedenborg's 
teachings in relation to mental healing in his little 
book entitled Psychiasis, and Rev. Clyde Broom- 
ell has quoted at length from Swedenborg's writ- 



Kindred Movements 319 

ings in his pamphlet, Divine Healing. The 
question of the relationship between the two lines 
of teaching would turn on the difference between 
mental and spiritual healing. We note, for ex- 
ample in a pamphlet entitled Religion and 
Health, by Rev. Julian K. Smyth of the New 
Church, the statement concerning the Emman- 
uel movement that " it is singularly silent on the 
deepest, the most spiritual side of its would-be 
mission. ... I am bound to confess that I have 
searched this book Religion and Medicine which 
speaks for this movement — I have searched it in 
vain for any distinctively spiritual principles. It 
has a great deal to say about the conscious and 
subconscious minds; about suggestion, auto-sug- 
gestion, hypnotism. The therapeutic value of 
faith and prayer is emphasized. Many of the 
causes of nervousness are pointed out. Physical 
disorders having mental origin are explained. 
. . . But in what way is this really a return to 
Jesus Christ, beyond the fact that they who do 
it confess His name?" 

Doubtless the more spiritually minded disci- 
ples of the New Thought would raise the same 
question. The question is, What shall become 
of the greater problems remaining unsolved 
when suggestion has been employed to the full, 
those problems which pertain to our deeper spir- 
itual nature? Such problems are surely held 



320 The New Thought Movement 

over by the partisans of suggestion, whether in 
the Emmanuel movement or any branch of the 
New Thought. The question is whether we do 
not at some point in our development reach the 
parting of the ways where not even the vigorous 
denials of Christian Science any longer aid us. 

Mr. Smyth raises this question when he says, 
"Suppose, under influence, I impart to myself a 
suggestion which is not in the highest sense true. 
Thus, I have seen the following offered as ideal 
suggestions : 

" 'I am pure.' 

" T am one with God.' 

" 'I am in perfect harmony with all.' 

"I am told that if I will hold these suggestions 
fixedly and in a sort of half -waking state, great 
benefits will result. A sense of quiet will be in- 
duced. Perhaps some nervous condition, or pain 
of body will disappear. But for me, at least, 
these suggestions, although they seem highly re- 
ligious, in fact are not true. I am not pure ; but 
need, rather to cry out, 'God be merciful to me a 
sinner !' I am not one with God : — He is divine, 
I am human, and, in my self-centered life, I too 
often emphasize my separateness from Him. I 
am not in perfect harmony with all; for, if I am 
a man struggling for the good of all, I am well 
aware of contending evils which are as foes of 
my own mental household. Of what avail can 



Kindred Movements 321 

it be to bring about some contented, quiet state 
of mind on a fictitious principle? Who is auth- 
orized to take the responsibility of imparting to 
our subconscious self, when we have laid our- 
selves open to the power of suggestion, the true 
principle for us?" 

The devotee of Christian Science and the part- 
isans of the New Thought patterning their views 
after Christian Science would of course maintain 
that the above-quoted ideal suggestions are true 
now of man's real self, and that one can cure 
oneself of any ill by holding to such affirmations 
and denying the reality of the illnesses. Mr. 
Rawson, as quoted above in Chapter XII, gives 
the gist of this method in a very clear way when 
he counsels a person in need to "turn in thought 
to God," denying the reality of any material 
condition. This has been the prevailingly suc- 
cessful method. But the crucial question is, 
Does it contain the whole truth? What then be- 
comes of material conditions? How did they 
originate? Why do even Christian Scientists 
and the partisans of the New Thought emulating 
them depart from the position after a while, in 
quest of further truth? How long can therapeu- 
tists maintain the fiction of "malicious animal 
magnetism" or the hypothesis of a "revelation" 
which has to be so strictly guarded that no mem- 
ber of the Christian Science church is allowed 



322 The New Thought Movement 

to read any books or magazines on the New 
Thought? If the history of the New Thought 
teaches anything during the past twenty-five 
years it is this, that the abstract principles have 
been dropped for the concrete till now there is a 
disposition to look at things as they are with eyes 
unafraid. 

We have only to recall the state of mind our 
country was in before the great war to note how 
radically we have changed. We had theoretical 
lovers of peace without limit who deplored war 
and ignored the forces that had been so long 
gathering in Germany, to disrupt the world. 
These idealists affirmed peace and denied the pos- 
sibility of war. They expected to be triumphant 
by virtue of their mere programs for peace. But 
they were greatly excelled by the most success- 
ful imitators of Christian Scientists — the Kaiser 
and the war-party in Germany, who, during the 
war, carried on the most effective psychological 
propagandism the world has seen: every defeat 
was affirmed to be a success; every threatening 
fact on the side of the Allies was denied; "in- 
spired news" was given to the press to pacify 
the people; air-raids were indulged in for men- 
tal effect ; in short, affirmation was made the vic- 
torious tool of the super-man. 

What happened? Steadily the American 
world was shaken out of its pacifist slumbers. 



Kindred Movements 323 

We were compelled to face the facts, and we did 
so with tremendous execution. After a certain 
day in 1918 it was no longer possible to keep the 
truth from the people in Germany. With the 
discovery of the truth, the Teutonic morale im- 
mediately weakened, the psychological war came 
to an end, and Germany went to pieces: the 
greatest instance of failure of mere affirmation- 
ism the world has seen. 

What lessons does the war teach in this re- 
spect? That there is a stronger philosophy in 
the Christian faith which does not have to be 
bolstered up, a more true, courageous affirmation 
which counsels man to look straight through the 
facts to the end, ignoring nothing, denying 
nothing, but learning the great spiritual 
lessons of the ages. In the long run it is 
the truth that sets men free. As Mr. Quimby 
put it, "the explanation is the cure." To explain 
we must look at things fairly and squarely, just 
as the war compelled us to look straight at the 
enemy and analyze the conflict down to its foun- 
dation, in the motives from which it sprang. 
Then to triumph we must beat the enemy at his 
own game, even if we have to employ his own 
fiendish devices. We succeed in the end because 
the right is on our side, because we fight with 
the moral law. The great lesson of the war is 
spiritual. It shows the true road to salvation — 



324 The New Thought Movement 

if we care to walk in it, the straight and narrow 
way of the Gospel, which many see but few find 
attractive, inasmuch as we do not like to face 
ourselves. To walk in the way is to "live the 
life" in its fulness, to realize that there is no 
short cut or royal road, however many the psy- 
chological devices by which we camouflage its 
scenery. 

To what extent does this widespread use of ap- 
plied psychology represent the New Thought? 
In so far as it expresses what has been called 
"The Victorious Faith," the well-grounded faith 
that wins. Mere affirmation without truth or 
righteousness to support it leads to no good re- 
sult. The New Thought aims to be construc- 
tive. From the days of Quimby the pioneer it 
has reacted against all bondages, particularly 
against servitude to priests and doctors. It has 
vigorously reacted against materialism. But it 
has tried to make these protests effective in be- 
half of the inner life. Its methods are not dis- 
counted by the fact that affirmations can be used 
with evil intentions, as in the case of the war- 
party in Germany. 

In short, the New Thought is an "influence," 
not an institution. Its influence has been felt 
on the stage, for example, in dramas which ex- 
press the power of thought in contrast with the 
power of mere things. It has found expression 



Kindred Movements 325 

in recent fiction to some extent. It has fostered 
the type of optimism for which America stands. 
It has helped in productive enterprises, in stim- 
ulating the constructive attitude. Its influence 
is seen in what may be called "the psychology of 
success," wherever the value of expectant sugges- 
tion is seen. 

It is a new point of view or consciousness. Its 
leaders do not try to persuade people to leave 
their occupations, their social surroundings, their 
churches; but to show them how every element 
in their daily life and in their environment may 
be bettered or uplifted if regarded in a different 
spirit. Its leaders call attention to that other 
environment with which most of us are little ac- 
quainted, that is, our inner or mental environ- 
ment. They direct attention to the soul. They 
show the power of the spirit over circumstance, 
over the flesh, over adversity. Thus the clue 
which originally was found through a study of 
health and disease regarded from within, has 
been extended in all directions until for its dev- 
otees it has become universal. 

The New Thought stands for the affirmative 
attitude in all things. This attitude is not new 
in the world. It has always been implied in 
successful undertakings. But the New Thought 
has developed and supplied its psychology, given 
the reasons for it. Those reasons it has ex- 



326 The New Thought Movement 

pressed in terms of a direct appeal to the indi- 
vidual to look to himself, change his own 
thoughts, remedy his attitude, cease to find fault 
and to condemn, before looking to the world. 
Not all its disciples have made this change in the 
same way. But the fact that its methods have 
appealed to all classes of people is evidence of 
its widespread influence. What its leaders ask 
is that people shall judge by the best the New 
Thought has to offer, the best teachings which 
its history discloses during the fifty years since 
the publication of the first book on the subject. 

Everything will depend in its further applica- 
tion and influence in the world upon the type of 
"science" from which its activities spring. Shall 
it be the science of this or that leader who has 
imitated Mrs. Eddy, a science more or less 
sharply cut off from the realities, the law, order 
and system of the world? Or shall it be a science, 
not in the speculative or assertive sense, but in 
accord with the larger spirit of Christianity in its 
original form, the spiritual science of the Christ 
regarded universally? If the latter, then it 
should pass beyond individual vagaries and fan- 
ciful interpretations. If the latter, then it need 
ignore nothing, need not deny anything existent 
in God's universe. It may overcome all fear and 
look with open eye upon the world, learning the 
lessons of sorrow and suffering as well as those 



Kindred Movements 327 

which easily inspire optimism. If the latter, then 
it need not be a science of the subjective alone, 
it need not be limited to the inner life, but may 
come out into the open, into the full light of the 
new age. 

Doubtless there was a meaning in the relative 
isolation with which Mr. Quimby lived and 
worked during the twenty-five years in which he 
was developing the silent method, learning the 
influence of suggestion, the power of mental at- 
mospheres and the other elements of our inmost 
attitudes. By a vigorous act of faith we may 
perhaps see meaning, too, in the fact that it was 
Mrs. Eddy's "science," not Mr. Evans's books, 
which first caught the world and became influen- 
tial. For that "science," like the self-assertive- 
ness of the war-party in Germany, was radical 
enough to arouse a dormant world. But it is not 
a question either of origins or of developments 
along the way but of the results or fruits. Mr. 
Quimby pointed back to Christianity, he did not 
take credit to himself. He saw that for hun- 
dreds of years the world had been deprived of an 
important portion of the gospel of Christ. 
Hence the teachings which have grown out of 
Quimby's pioneer work have been said to be noth- 
ing less than "a new revelation of Christianity." 

This statement is surely true of the new age 
in which we live. The New Thought is at least 



328 The New Thought Movement 

one of several contributing activities, however we 
may interpret the new age in its fulness. We 
live in the social century, now. We have passed 
out of the subjectivism and the mere idealism of 
the nineteenth century. We have discovered the 
inner life anew. The central question is, What 
use shall we make of our discoveries? Shall we 
analyze matters to the foundation and leajn the 
whole cause of human misery, dissatisfaction and 
the social unrest which is besetting the classes, 
acknowledging whatever is before us, seeing life 
whole? Shall we pass beyond all psychological 
devices needed to support our courage for the 
moment? Shall we acquire a philosophy greater 
than idealism and realism? Shall we pass be- 
yond both pessimism and optimism? 

Whatever else the new age asks of us, it surely 
demands that we shall live by what we believe, 
proving for ourselves, verifying the everlasting 
realities of religion. As an expression of the es- 
sentially practical spirit of America, the New 
Thought has been doing its part to direct atten- 
tion to this the central consideration. Ideals and 
affirmations are aids along the way. Eventually 
we hope to arrive where the larger truth which 
shall be in our power will bring spiritual free- 
dom as its great consequence. Life according to 
the divine law will then be the test of our spirit- 
uality. We will be doing much more than sim- 



Kindred Movements 329 

ply to strive against our errors, our sins or dis- 
eases; we will be living a life which makes for 
truth, righteousness and health such that it will 
no longer be necessary to think of their opposites. 
Good health should become a habit founded in a 
life of integrity. We ought then to be able to 
labor and to serve as if mankind had never by 
its ignorance and its waywardness brought suf- 
fering upon the world. That, in brief, is the 
ideal of the New Thought: to abolish suffering 
altogether, to bring man to his true estate as a 
spirit living even now in the spiritual world. 

Quimby's radical proposition was that disease 
was "the invention of man," a sheer "error" in 
contrast with divine truth; whereas the old the- 
ology had taught that suffering was "an inflic- 
tion of wise providence" to be patiently endured. 
Quimby maintained that it was the right of man 
to be well, and that by profound searching man 
could press through his errors to "the explana- 
tion" which should be "the cure." The New 
Thought has taken up this radical proposition 
and Quimby's method and endeavored to prove 
them both. It has encouraged every man to be 
his own physician and seek his own health by spir- 
itual wisdom. This constructive effort is its spe- 
cial contribution. This much attained, the New 
Thought is ready to join with other activities 
which are meeting the great social issues of our 



330 The New Thought Movement 

time, in a far larger program than that with 
which it began. For in very truth the new age 
is a return to the original gospel, whose mission 
was to make man every whit whole, to bring so- 
ciety into the fulness of life. Or, shall we say, 
that ours is the age which is coming to understand 
Christianity for the first time? Christianity was 
thought to be for the sake of individual piety, a 
scheme of salvation through right doctrine. Our 
age teaches the inseparability of the individual 
and society. The war has made the races and 
nations intimately akin. We do not want the 
mere "healing of the nations." We want coop- 
eration and brotherhood. We want true serv- 
ice and social justice. It is the love which Christ 
taught which will overcome the class hatreds 
which have organized themselves to bar the way. 
All our problems are inseparably connected. All 
activities making for social betterment must be 
seen as intimately one. What we are witnessing 
in our day is a fruition of that power of the Holy 
Spirit which went forth into the world at the 
time of the incarnation to bring all men unto the 
Christ. 



APPENDIX 

1. The question of the relationship between the New 
Thought and commercialism would take us too far afield. 
There are, however, several matters which have led to mis- 
understandings, and these properly belong to our history. 
The bearing of affirmations and suggestions on business 
affairs did not come under consideration in the early years. 
It was understood that "the laborer is worthy of his hire," 
and reasonable charges were made for silent treatments and 
class instruction. But later "the prosperity treatment'' 
came into vogue, and much use was made of the psychology 
of success. As the movement grew in popularity it at- 
tracted people of many types, some of whom worked their 
way up by sheer persistence and developed a highly suc- 
cessful business out of small beginnings. Others adopted 
the plan of free-will offerings, and endeavored to "attract" 
whatever funds might be needed for their work. Some- 
times this plan scarcely differed from the usual commercial 
methods, inasmuch as attention was persistently called to 
"needs," and appeals were constantly sent out for money 
to pay for various improvements. Some of the editors kept 
their magazines free from advertisements which might seem 
inconsistent with the New Thought, while others accepted 
advertisements of many sorts of goods which were indeed 
unlike the possessions of the inner life. Hence misappre- 
hensions arose to some extent, partly because some of the 
leaders appeared to be taking advantage of the public to 
attract attention to their own personalities. 

The only serious charge brought against any of the 
leaders involved the reputation of Helen Wilmans, who was 
said to have made fraudulent use of the United States 
mails by soliciting money for "absent treatment." Appar- 

331 



332 Appendix 



ently, Mrs. Wilmans was discredited and the value of ab- 
sent treatment called in serious question. The facts in 
the case are best known by Eugene Del Mar, president of 
the League for the Larger Life, and actively connected 
with the New Thought movement since 1898. Mr. Del 
Mar, who had been a student of Mrs. Wilmans' writings 
for several years, and established the New York branch 
of the Mental Science Temple in 1899, says, "It was my 
good fortune to know Helen Wilmans intimately, first visit- 
ing her at Sea Breeze, Fla., as her guest, and subsequently 
taking up my residence there for six months, lecturing and 
writing for her magazine, Freedom. 

"Helen Wilmans was one of the most broadminded of 
the leaders of the movement, with pioneer spirit and cour- 
age, and when others accepted or compromised with the ar- 
bitrary and bureaucratic methods of the Post Office Depart- 
ment she defied them and fought to the end. Her resist- 
ance enured to the great ultimate advantage of the move- 
ment, even in the face of the criticism and condemnation 
with which she was greeted by some of the New Thought 
leaders. 

"The Post Office Fraud Order was placed on Helen Wil- 
mans without even prior notice. There was no hearing, 
no trial, no conviction. It was instituted by the jealousy 
of the man who dominated Sea Breeze, Helen Wilmans 
having established her 'City Beautiful' a few miles distant, 
and thereby taken away the post office and other privileges 
that this Sea Breeze magnate had previously enjoyed. He 
happened to be an intimate of the then senior U. S. senator 
from Maine, who was very close to the President; and on 
motives of jealousy and revenge, and at the instigation of 
political intrigue, the Post Office Department was set in 
motion in true Russian autocratic manner. 

"Helen Wilmans was cut off from the world without 
chance for redress and condemned publicly without hear- 
ing or trial. After this had been done, she was indicted 
on a charge of 'fraud,' the U. S. Government contending 



Appendix 333 



that her claim of cure by absent treatment was necessarily 
fraudulent because it was impossible to be done. Her 
claim was false because absent cure was impossible, and 
it was fraudulent because she must have known that it 
was impossible. The United States district judge so in- 
structed the jury as follows: 'The foundation of the con- 
tention of the Government is that what was promised to 
be done could not have been intended, because the fulfill- 
ment was known to be impossible, by the means proposed 
by the defendant, viz. the transfer of the power of her 
thought to the person of the client with a curing influence 
sufficient to accomplish the changes in condition that were 
declared to be accomplished. . . / 

"The United States Supreme Court reversed this decision 
and finally — after Helen Wilmans had been impoverished, 
her business ruined, and her spirit broken — the matter was 
dropped. When, not long after this, her husband died, she 
felt that she had no further desire to go on with her work, 
and she passed away. 

"Helen Wilmans was one of the many wonderful women 
that the New Thought movement has produced. She was 
much misunderstood and maligned by those who either did 
not know her or were prejudiced by her pioneer methods. 
I shall indeed be glad if at this late date some measure 
of justice is done to her memory." 

Of course no question concerning the value of absent 
treatment as a whole could be settled in court. The test 
question for devotees of the silent method would be, What 
constitutes absent treatment? Can it be undertaken for 
a group, or should it be employed for the benefit of one 
person at a time only, and this as a result of corre- 
spondence between healer and patient, with a precise ar- 
rangement as to time, and the number of sittings? Some 
of the critics of Helen Wilmans perhaps hastily assumed 
that Mrs. Wilmans treated all her absent patients at once, 
and that these were acquired through responses to adver- 
tisements in which great promises were held out. If so, 



334 Appendix 

their judgments were indeed ill-founded, and as sweep- 
ing as those of the district judge. 

The criticisms imply several points that have never been 
adequately discussed. Some devotees of the movement 
have maintained that absent healing should not be under- 
taken unless the patient be known to the therapeutist. But 
successful work has been carried on by the healers among 
patients unknown to them. Mr. Quimby practised healing 
in this way. Others have held that one need not press the 
matter very closely, since some good will result through 
self-healing whether the therapeutist keep the appoint- 
ment or not. Indeed, it has been contended that all absent 
healing is really self-healing. The noon silences kept 
throughout the world by devotees of various branches of 
the movement are based on the assumption that there is 
value in community silence. No leader is supposed to 
"hold the thought" for the whole group. Each one is 
asked to meditate in his own way on the same thought. 
The value of such meditation would be hard to determine. 
It would probably be an aid to more direct and inde- 
pendent meditation on the part of the individual. It 
would be easy to foster credulity on a large scale by en- 
couraging community silences and group healings, on the 
supposition that some kind of mysterious power goes out 
from the head office where the group-healers sit in silence 
at the noon hour. On the other hand, the practice of 
meditation begun in this way might be the turning-point 
in a hungry soul's quest for spiritual food. Hence one 
would hesitate to arouse scepticism. Much would depend 
upon the instruction given out from headquarters to the 
effect that it is not human thought sent out absently that 
heals: it is the divine power within the patient. Conscien- 
tious absent treatment is a means to an end far beyond 
itself. 

It is plain that the commercial use of the New Thought 
is a question of motive, and on this point Mr. Del Mar 
says, in a recent issue of Now, San Francisco, "The purpose 



Appendix 335 

of the New Thought is the development of the individual, 
through an increased consciousness that he inherently pos- 
sesses, and may bring into manifestation, all desirable 
attributes. And it teaches how, through the cultivation 
and concentration of desire, the individual may attract 
and receive what he thus relates to himself. Through 
his increased consciousness of power, the individual 
emerges from the mass, and commences an existence that 
is consciously self-directed. 

"But this is not all. Back of all this lies the impelling 
motive, and it is the motive rather than the method that 
characterizes the New Thought movement. Its essential 
conception is that of unity, and it advocates the cultivation 
of Self and the attainment of desire from the point of 
view of the benefit of all. Its motives necessarily involve 
as full a measure of giving as of receiving. 

"Those who regard the New Thought merely as an in- 
strument whereby to acquire 'success' at the expense of 
others, have failed to comprehend its motives, and are 
assisting to discredit it. Such people are actuated by the 
same motives as are those who have become millionaires 
through extortion and bribery. One who would willingly 
accumulate and store up useless wealth while millions of 
his fellow-beings are suffering for lack of sustenance, 
has not as yet thoroughly absorbed the New Thought 
conceptions. 

"New Thought methods and motives are not intended 
to qualify a few individuals to more readily prey upon 
the mass. Nor are they designed to enable the individual 
to attain his desires at the expense of others. But they 
mean the exaltation of each and all, and they ever center 
about the conception of Unity. 

"When we adopt the religion of humanity, we find that 
what we have called our duty to God is the duty we owe 
to our Self and our fellow-beings. With the elimination 
of the conception of an anthropomorphic God, it becomes 
possible to conceive of a heaven here, and to understand 



838 Appendix 



that man's highest duty is to man. And with the concep- 
tion of the essential unity of humanity, man's duty to the 
Self and to others is seen to be one and the same. If 
he would receive, he must give; if he would be loved, he 
must love; if he would benefit the Self, he must be of 
advantage to others. One may rise only as he raises others 
with him, and one may fall only as he falls with 
others. . . ." 

The Elizabeth Towne Co., Holyoke, Mass., issues a 
pamphlet entitled The Story of Elizabeth Towne and the 
Nautilus, by Thomas Drier and others, in which one may 
read a typical record of success as achieved by a New 
Thought leader. Mr. Drier says, "I am telling these things 
about Elizabeth Towne, because she represents a desirable 
state of mind. She stands for a philosophy which makes 
for growth and happiness. In her teachings there is 
nothing that encourages hatred, discouragement, fear, or 
failure. She thinks thoughts which make for success. 
She is self-reliant, confident, inspirational. She compels 
men and women to forsake their belief in a God that is 
vindictive, and she fills their lives with a philosophy of 
sunshine, love, kindness, and neighborliness. She is a min- 
ister of Today. She wants men and women to do good 
now for their own reward now. She shows that there is 
no such thing as luck, that effect always follows a cause, 
and that disease, disappointment, discouragement are re- 
sults which may be avoided by those who understand how 
to direct their energies wisely. She doesn't encourage 
people to visit her, because, if they came, they would lean 
upon her and fail to stand upon their own feet. She pre- 
fers to reach people by means of her writings, for she 
knows that those she influences will become more self- 
reliant and dependent upon their own powers instead of 
upon hers." 

Speaking of the diversity of motives actuating those who 
have adopted the New Thought, Mr. Mclvor Tyndall, in 
Now, says, "Therefore, it is impossible for one to formu- 



Appendix 337 



late a definition for New Thought that shall satisfy every 
one's idea of what the term stands for. To the average 
person 'New Thought' signifies a kind of 'get-rich-quick' 
formula,, as far as it relates to the acquisition of magical 
and immediate success. To another it may mean release 
from the consequences of past deeds that have hitherto 
been regarded as 'sins.' To another it may represent an 
excuse for extravagance in dress and other expenditures, 
on the principle that New Thought teaches mastery over 
material things and that therefore 'New Thought says I 
should have everything I want.' 

"Like the Bible, 'New Thought' is 'all things to all men/ 
according to their understanding, and therein perhaps lies 
the proof of its verity. Truth is many-sided and looks 
different according to the angle from which one regards 
it. One of the fundamentals of the New Thought move- 
ment, upon which all its various 'schools' and phases are 
agreed, is the value of optimism. The realization that 
we need not beg and cringe and whine at the feet of an 
all-wise and all-loving Power — by whatever name we elect 
to call this Power — is a perception that is almost univer- 
sally recognized. And it is one of the messages which the 
New Thought movement particularly emphasizes. 

"Another of the fundamentals of New Thought to which 
all thinking people will cheerfully subscribe is the fact 
that honesty, sincerity, and truthfulness in practical, every- 
day life, as well as in ethics is a 'paying proposition' in 
actual returns of actual, practical, material dollars and 
cents." 

2. Misapprehension has prevailed to some extent con- 
cerning the Quimby manuscripts, the existence of which 
began to be generally known in Boston in 1882. The re- 
port was circulated that these writings were in Mrs. Eddy's 
possession and that she copied Science and Health from 
them. In connection with personal matters, taken into 
court, a former student of Mrs. Eddy's, Mr. E. J. Ahrens, 
made some hasty and ill-founded statements to this effect. 



338 Appendix 



Mrs. Eddy thereupon challenged Ahrens to produce the 
writings and prove his point. This he could not do, for 
he did not possess them and had no access to them. Then 
the report was started and kept in circulation for years 
that the manuscripts did not exist and that this was 
"proved in court/' obviously an absurd statement, since 
no one connected with that case in court had access to the 
manuscripts. 

For reasons best known to himself, Mr. George A. 
Quimby steadily refused to publish the manuscripts dur- 
ing the life-time of Mrs. Eddy. By previous arrangement 
with Mr. Quimby our family copies were returned to him 
in 1893, and we were not permitted to quote any of the 
articles in full either in The Philosophy of P. P. Quimby, 
1895, or in Health and the Inner Life, 1906. Mr. Quimby 
died without making any provision for the disposition of 
the manuscripts. It remains for the historian to edit and 
publish these writings at some future time. The historian 
has been personally acquainted with all the patients and 
followers of P. P. Quimby who have had the use of the 
manuscripts. Miss Milmine was allowed to reproduce part 
of a page of one of them for her life of Mrs. Eddy pub- 
lished in McClure's Magazine. 

3. In 1899, it was supposed that the suit brought against 
The Arena Publishing Co., for infringements of publish- 
ing rights on account of the reproduction of Mrs. Eddy's 
portrait in The Arena, May, 1899, was also a suit with 
regard to the subject-matter of the two articles about Mrs. 
Eddy; hence that it was a charge brought against the 
writers. But the suit referred to the reproduction of the 
portrait only. The subject-matter of the articles was 
never called in question. In justice to the historian it 
should be said that the exposures contained in these articles 
were made at the instigation of Mrs. Woodbury, a former 
student of Mrs. Eddy's, and that my article was under- 
taken because Mr. George A. Quimby would not permit 
any one else to quote from Mrs. Eddy's letters. I did 



Appendix 339 



not state that Christian Science was a "religious delusion." 
This phraseology was introduced by the editor. My own 
point of view has always been that truth would take care 
of itself, and that denunciations were unnecessary. 



INDEX 



Affirmation, daily, of the 
Church Universal, Australia, 
268-270 

Affirmative attitude, the New- 
Thought held to stand for 
the, 325-326 

Allen, A. B., cyclopedia article 
on the New Thought by, 295 

Allen, Mary, vice-president of 
League for the Larger Life, 
New York, 243 

Aquarian Ministry, the, in Los 
Angeles, 242-243 

Arena, The, a New Thought 
periodical, 189 

Articles on mental healing and 
the New Thought, 294-297 

Atkinson, W. W., editor of 
New Thought Magazine, 
Chicago, 154, 264; criticism 
of book by, on New Thought 
Its History and Principles, 
312-313 

Attention, emphasis on, as de- 
termining factor in mental 
life, 91 

Attraction, new stress placed 
on law of, by New Thought 
movement, 161-162 

Australia, interest in the New 
Thought in, 219; progress of 
the New Thought movement 
in, 268-270 

Barnett, Miss M. J., leader 
in mental-healing movement, 
136 

Barrows, Charles M., Facts 



and Fictions of Mental Heal- 
ing by, 135; Suggestion In- 
stead of Medicine by, 306 

Bartol, Rev. C. A., sermon on 
the New Thought preached 
by, 294 

Barton, A. P., editor of 
Thought and The Life, 172 

Barton, Josephine C, speaker 
before International Meta- 
physical League, 196 

Ben Adhem House, Boston, 
188 

Bible, P. P. Quimby's attitude 
toward the truths of the, 47- 
48; a return to the, advo- 
cated by Mr. Quimby, 69- 
70; distinctions made be- 
tween parts of, in the New 
Thought, 281 

Bond, Nannie S., essay by, 
cited, 173 n. 

Books on the New Thought, 
■1 67-1 73 ; recommendations 
for improvement in, 316-317 

Boston, early vogue of mental 
science in, 131-138; forma- 
tion of Metaphysical Club of, 
182; New Thought conven- 
tion held in (1899), 195; or- 
ganization of International 
Metaphysical League in, 195- 
196; work of Dr. Julia Seton 
in, 245 

Brazil, New Thought work in, 
272-273 

Bridges, Ruth B., 196 

Brown, Henry Harrison, New 
341 



342 



Index 



Thought editor and author, 

239 
Brown, Rev. Muriel, New 

Thought minister, 245 
Brownell, George B. and 

Louise B., mental healers ot 

Los Angeles, 243 
Bruce, H. Addington, Scien- 
tific Mental Healing by, 297- 

298 
Burkmar, Lucius, mesmeric 

subject of P. P. Quimby, 

29-31 

Cady, Emilie, writings of, 172 

Caillet, Albert, French New 
Thought leader, 219 

California, the New Thought 
movement in, 232-237 

Chapin, Mary E. T., one of 
organizers of Metaphysical 
Club, 182, 186; activities of, 
as a New Thought teacher, 
205, 206, 214, 218, 221 

Charles, George B., editor of 
the Christian Metaphysician, 
137 

Chesley, E. M., mental science 
leader, 135, 196; essay by, 
cited, 173 n.; at Metaphysi- 
cal Club, 180; papers con- 
tributed to Metaphysical 
Club by, 189 

Chile, New Thought movement 
in, 272 

Christ. See Jesus 

Christian, Miss, pioneer teacher 
in Philadelphia, 255 

Christian Metaphysician, pub- 
lication of the, 137 

Christian metaphysics, use ot 
term, 142 

Christian Science, P. P. Quim 
by's version of, 48-49; be- 
ginnings of, 97 if.; Mrs. 



Eddy's discovery of, in visit 
to P. P. Quimby, 98-102; 
lesson found in, as a reac- 
tion against a materialistic 
age, 122; by some regarded 
as the only phase of the 
mental healing movement, 
294; consideration of ele- 
ments contributed by, to the 
New Thought, 301 

Church, relationship of the 
New Thought to the, 311 

Church of the Divine Unity, 
Boston, 134 

Church of the Higher Life, 
Boston, 174-176 

Cincinnati, New Thought 
movement in, 250-253 

Clark, Susie C, spiritualistic 
healer associated with the 
New Thought, 302 

Cleveland, Ohio, progress of 
New Thought movement in, 
254 

Cobb, Rev. W. F., Spiritual 
Healing by, 294, 298 

Colorado College of Divine 
Science, 237-238 

Colville, Mr., author of books 
on mental healing, 136 

Conjugal love, relation of, to 
disease, 83-84 

Conventions of mental-healing 
movement, 192-207; interna- 
tional, 208-230 

Cooper-Mathieson, Sister Veni, 
work of, in Australia, 268 

Cramer, Mrs. M. E., editor of 
Harmony, 137; president of 
International Divine Science 
Association, 193-194; teacher 
of the New Thought in Den- 
ver, 237 

Crane, Aaron M., author of 
Right and Wrong Thinking, 



Index 



343 



189; speaker before conven- 
tion of International Meta- 
physical League, 198 

Davis, Mary N., pioneer mental 
scientist, 140 

Davis, Minnie S., mental sci- 
entist of Springfield, Mass., 
140 

Day, Florence W., New 
Thought leader in Washing- 
ton, D. C, 255 

Declaration of Principles at 
third congress of Interna- 
tional New Thought Alliance, 
St. Louis (1917), 214-217 

Del Mar, Eugene, officer of 
League for the Larger Life, 
New York, 243-244; one of 
organizers of Mental Science 
Temple, New York, 264 

Denver, progress of New 
Thought movement in, 237- 
239 

Disease, viewed as an error of 
the mind, by P. P. Quimby, 
58-59; statement of Mr. 
Quimby's theory by W. F. 
Evans, 80-81; viewed as an 
insanity, 82 

Divine Law of Cure, The, Mr. 
Evans's later book, 75-76, 
88-96, 129 

Divine Science, use of name, in 
Denver and San Francisco, 
155 

Divine Science congresses, 192- 
194 

Douglass, R. C, quoted con- 
cerning Henry Wood, 169- 
170; leader in New Thought 
organizations, 194 

Dresser, A. G., The Philosophy 
of P. P. Quimby by, quoted, 
25-26 



Dresser, Horatio W., chairman 
of School of Applied Meta- 
physics at Greenacre, 178; 
editor of The Journal of 
Practical Metaphysics, 184; 
associate editor of The 
Arena, 189; mentioned, 194; 
engaged in Y. M. C. A. work 
in France, 220; translations 
of works of, 273 

Dresser, Julius A., quoted con- 
cerning P. P. Quimby, 24; 
becomes a patient of Mr. 
Quimby, 41; quoted on W. 
F. Evans and P. P. Quimby, 
74-75; The True History of 
Mental Science by, quoted, 
97-101; beginning of career 
and views held by, 142-143 

Dresser, Mrs. Julius A., a dis- 
ciple of P. P. Quimby, 143- 
144; one of organizers of 
Metaphysical Club, 182; ad- 
dress before Metaphysical 
Club of Boston, in 1914, 
quoted, 287-293 

Dyer, Ellen M., pioneer New 
Thought teacher in Philadel- 
phia, 178, 196, 255 

Eddy, Mary Baker, patient of 
P. P. Quimby, 41; first visit 
of, to P. P. Quimby, 98-99; 
quoted concerning cure ef- 
fected by Mr. Quimby, 99- 
101; letters by, concerning 
Mr. Quimby, 102-108; con- 
tinued evidences of regard 
for Mr. Quimby, 108-110; 
complete change in attitude 
of, toward Mr. Quimby, 112- 
114; discrepancies in state- 
ments of, 115-117; true his- 
tory of the case of, 117- 
119; analogies and differ- 



344 



Index 



ences between theories of, 
and those of Mr. Quimby, 
120-125 

Edgerton, James A., president 
of National New Thought 
Alliance, 202, 210; summary 
by, of growth and develop- 
ment of New Thought, 218- 
230 

Eleanor Kirk's Idea, New 
Thought periodical, 161 

Emerson, R. W., beginning of 
interest in, among New 
Thought leaders, 135-136; 
study of, in Oregon, 240 

Emmanuel movement, the, 304- 
305; necessity of distinct 
classification of movements 
kindred to New Thought 
shown by, 315; criticism of, 
by Rev. Julian K. Smyth, 
319-321 

England, use of term, "Higher 
Thought" in, 154; history of 
New Thought movement in, 
258-268 

Essays, published by members 
of Metaphysical Club, 188 

Eternal Progress, New Thought 
periodical, 250 

Evans, Rev. W. F., patient of 
P. P. Quimby, 41, 71; the 
first author to develop ideas 
originated by P. P. Quimby, 
42; qualifications of, to be- 
come an exponent of Mr. 
Quimby's methods, 72; quoted 
on Mr. Quimby, 73; indebted- 
ness of, to teachings of 
Swedenborg, 72, 75, 93-95; 
volume on The Mental Cure 
by, 75; development of, as 
shown in later writings, 75- 
76; theory of, summarized, 
76-89 ; further development 



of theory of, 89-94; distinc- 
tion between philosophy of, 
and that of Swedenborg, 94- 
96; followers of, in the men- 
tal science period, 135 

Faith, importance of, in W. F. 
Evans's theory, 85 

Farmer, Sarah J., Greenacre 
Conferences established by, 
176-179; approach made by, 
to New Thought on its spir- 
itual side, 179; speaker be- 
fore International Metaphy- 
sical League, 196 

Fellowship Society of Portland, 
Oregon, 240 

Fillmore, Charles, mental sci- 
ence editor, 137, 231 

Fillmore, Myrtle, New Thought 
leader, 231 

Foulds, Sam E., Editor of 
Now, 239 

Fox, M. Douglas, article in 
The Bally by, quoted, 258- 
262 

France, the New Thought 
movement in, 219-220 

Freedom, magazine of the New 
Thought, 161 

Freud, W. F. Evans a fore- 
runner of, 84; philosophy of, 
distinguished from the New 
Thought, 306-307 

Galer, Agnes, teachings and 

other activities of, 240-241 
Gaze, Henry, New Thought 

leader, 250 
Germany, call for New Thought 

books in, 273 
Gestefeld, Harry, officer of 

International Metaphysical 

League, 196 
Gestefeld, Ursula N., mental 



Index 



345 



science leader, 140-141 ; 
speaker before International 
Metaphysical League, 196 

Graham, Miss L. C, mental 
science pioneer, 137, 139 

Gray, Emma, pioneer teacher 
and healer in Washington, 
D. C, 255 

Great Britain, progress of New 
Thought in, 220, 258-268 

Greenacre Conferences, estab- 
lishment of, 176-179 

Grier, Rev. J. K., practitioner 
of New Thought methods in 
Spokane, 242 

Grimke, Miss S. S., early men- 
tal science writer, 137 

Grumbine, Rev. J. F. C, 
pioneer New Thought lec- 
turer and teacher, 254 

Guild, Ellis B., associate sec- 
retary of National New 
Thought Alliance, 203 

Hall, Bolton, speaker before 
International Metaphysical 
League, 196 

Harmony, New Thought maga- 
zine of San Francisco, 137, 
185; Mrs. M. E. Cramer edi- 
tor of, 194 

Hartford group of mental sci- 
entists, 138-140 

Hawaiian Islands, New 

Thought activities in, 271 

Henry, Esther, mental healer 
and teacher, 139 

Higher Thought, preference 
for the term, in England, 
154 

Hoare, Philip O'Bryen, New 
Thought worker in New Zea- 
land and Australia, 270 

Holcombe, Dr., first writer in 
mental science period to use 



term "New Thought," 153 

Home of Truth, name for men- 
tal-healing centres on Pacific 
coast; 232; idea underlying 
the, 235-237; in Boston, 249 

Hopkins, Emma Curtis, New 
Thought teacher, 140, 231 

How to Protect Our Soldiers, 
pamphlet by F. L. Rawson, 
quoted, 265-268 

Howe, Julia Ward, lecture de- 
livered by, under auspices of 
Metaphysical Club, 182 

Huckel, Rev. Oliver, Mental 
Medicine by, 308 

Hypnotism, confusion of men- 
tal healing with, 305-306. 
See Mesmerism 



Idealism, statement of Mr. 
Evans's views in terms of, in 
The Divine Law of Cure, 88- 
96; as taught by Mrs. Eddy, 
129 

Ideal Suggestion, book by 
Henry Wood, 170-171; trans- 
lated into Chinese, 274 

India, mental healing in, 274 

Insanity, disease viewed as, 
82; selfishness in its origin, 
83 

Intellect, a factor in spiritual 
healing, 87 

International Divine Science 
Association, conventions of 
the, 192-193 

International Metaphysical 

League, organization of, 195- 
196 

International New Thought 
Alliance, 202; work and in- 
fluence of, in foreign lands, 
273-274 

International New Thought 



346 



Index 



convention, Chicago (1903), 
198-199 
International New Thought 
Congress, First, 208 



Jackson Lectures, the, 177 

James, Fannie B., teacher of 
the New Thought in Denver, 
237 

Janes, Lewis G., 196 

Japan, "Healing by the Good" 
movement in, 274 

Jesus, method of healing prac- 
tised by, claimed to be redis- 
covered by P. P. Quimby, 
47-48; W. F. Evans's view of 
healing method of, 86-87; 
Mrs. Eddy's teachings con- 
cerning, 123; New Thought 
the same as the Christ 
Thought, 227-228; portion of 
Bible containing message of, 
set on a plane above the rest, 
in the New Thought, 281 

Jones, Eunice, New Thought 
leader in South Australia, 
270 

Jones, W. K., pioneer New 
Thought teacher in Oregon, 
240 

Journal of Practical Meta- 
physics, statement of pur- 
pose of Metaphysical Club 
printed in, 186-187 



Kansas City, Practical Chris- 
tianity movement in, 155, 
256 

Keney, Mary M. C, mental 
scientist of Hartford group, 
139 

Kirk, Eleanor, author of Per- 
petual Youth, 146 n. 



Larson, Christian D., New 
Thought leader, writer, and 
editor, 250 

La Vake, Sara G. M., presi- 
dent of New England Fed- 
eration of New Thought cen- 
tres, 247, 248, 249 

League for the Larger Life, 
New York City, 243-244 

Leonard, Rev. W. J., quoted 
concerning W. F. Evans and 
P. P. Quimby, 73-74 

Liberalism, religious, and the 
New Thought, 312 

"Light, Love, Truth," use of 
name, by mental scientists, 
139 

Los Angeles, New Thought 
convention in (1912), 204- 
206 ; Metaphysical Library 
in, 242 

Love, element of, in spiritual 
healing, 87 

Lowther, Granville, quoted on 
New Thought in the North- 
west, 241-242 

Macdonald, Rev. L. B., presi- 
dent of Metaphysical Club, 
182 

MacDonald, Rev. R., Mind, 
Religion, and Health by, 308 

McGee, Rev. Lucy C, minister 
of the Church of the Higher 
Life, 176; at First Interna- 
tional New Thought Con- 
gress, 208, 209 

Magazines, mental science, 
136-137; New Thought, 184- 
185, 238-240, 241, 255-256, 
264, 268, 300; reduction in 
number of, and growth in 
circulation of leading period- 
icals, 315-316 

Malicious animal magnetism, 



Index 



347 



Mrs. Eddy's hypothesis of, 
122 

Mallory, Lucy A., pioneer men- 
tal healing editor, 239 

Mann, Rev. C. H., exposition 
by, of Swedenborg's teach- 
ings in relation to mental 
healing, 318 

Marden, Orison Swett, presi- 
dent of League for the 
Larger Life, New York, 
243; translations of works of, 
273; success books by, 299 

Mason, Francis E., pioneer in 
reformed Christian Science, 
194 

Master Mind, The, New 
Thought monthly in Califor- 
nia, 233, 241 

Men's Meetings on Pacific 
coast, 234 

Mental attitudes, belief in, a 
fundamental principle of 
New Thought, 162 

Mental Cure, The, W. F. 
Evans's first book, 75; Mr. 
Evans's theory as set forth 
in, 76-89; interest shown in, 
upon publication in 1869, 
126-127 

Mental Healing Monthly, es- 
tablishment of, 136 

Mental Medicine, Rev. W. F. 
Evans's second book, quoted, 
73 

Mental Medicine, Rev. Oliver 
Huckel's, 308 

Mental pictures, emphasis 
placed on, by mental science 
writers, 137-138 

Mental science, the period of, 
126 ff. ; significance and use 
of term, 128-129; first maga- 
zines devoted to, 136-137; 
spiritual application of term 



by W. F. Evans, 144-145; 
employment of term by Mrs. 
Wilmans, 145 ; possibilities 
of, as a broad tendency of 
thought, 145-146; application 
of, to health as the chief in- 
terest, 146-147 

Mental Science Magazine, pub- 
lication of the, 137 

Mesmerism, investigation and 
practice of, by P. P. Quimby, 
29-41; discarding of, by Mr. 
Quimby, 38-39; wherein spir- 
itual healing differs from, 
49-50, 305-306 

Messner, Maud P., officer of 
League for the Larger Life, 
243 

Metaphysical Club, organiza- 
tion of, in Boston, 180-182; 
lectures delivered before, 182; 
first permanent New Thought 
club, 183; The Journal of 
Practical Metaphysics estab- 
lished by, 184; statements 
published by, of purpose, 
186-187; special significance 
of organization of, 189-190 

Metaphysical Guild of Boston, 
249 

Metaphysical healing, use of 
term, 141-142; peculiar sig- 
nificance of term, 156 

Metaphysical Magazine, The, 
establishment of, 138 

Militz, Annie Rix, New 
Thought teacher, 198, 204, 
205, 206, 207, 232; New 
Thought carried to Australia 
by, 219; great activities of, 
as a teacher and leader, 
237 

Militz, Paul, New Thought 
teacher, 232 

Miller, Dr. O. E., New 



348 



Index 



Thought worker in England, 

263 
Mills, Benj. Fay, meetings 

and classes held by, 240 
Mills, Rev. E. E., work of, in 

Spokane, 242 
Mind, New Thought magazine, 

185 
Mind-cure, vogue in Boston of 

the so-called, 132 
Moncrief, Mrs. Melville, New 

Thought leader in Hawaiian 

Islands, 271 
Morgan, Rev. Victor H., New 

Thought preached by, 240 
Mulford, Prentice, teachings 

of, 149, 156 
Murray, Rev. W. J., New 

Thought author and editor, 

155; engaged in Red Cross 

work in Italy, 220 

National New Thought Alli- 
ance, formation of, 202 

Nautilus, New Thought maga- 
zine, 241; success of, 255- 
256 

New Civilization, Church and 
School of the, 245-246 

Newcomb, C. B., author of 
All's Bight with the World, 
189 

New England Federation of 
New Thought Centres, 247 

New Thought, experiences of 
P. P. Quimby as the pioneei 
of, 19-43; comprehensiveness 
of term, 152; first mental 
scientists to use term, 152- 
153; merging of mental sci- 
ence into, 153; growth of 
term into current usa'ge, 
153-154; other names for 
same movement, 154-156; 
name now used to designate 



entire mental-healing move- 
ment, 156; terms used by 
writers on the, 158-159; 
early tendency to individual- 
ism, 159-160; achievement of 
a harmonious national organ- 
ization, 160; introduction of 
element of optimism, 160- 
161 ; quest for freedom ex- 
plicit in, 161; new emphasis 
placed on law of attraction, 
161-162; belief in mental at- 
titudes held to be fundamen- 
tal, 162; significance of word 
"realization," 162-163; ra- 
tional expression of, repre- 
sented by Henry Wood's 
writing's, 164-172; work of 
other writers and editors on 
the, 172-173; the first organ- 
izations, 174 ff.; the Church 
of the Higher Life, 174-176; 
the Greenacre Conferences, 
176-179; the Metaphysical 
Club, 180-189; the first con- 
ventions, 192 ff.; meetings of 
the International Divine Sci- 
ence Association, 192-194; 
convention in Boston (1899), 
195-196; convention of Inter- 
national Metaphysical League 
in New York (1900), 196- 
198; International New 
Thought Convention in Chi- 
cago (1903), 198-199; sum- 
mary by President Edgerton 
of recent growth and devel- 
opment of, 218-230; promi- 
nent leaders and organiza- 
tions, 231-257; the movement 
in foreign lands, 258-275; 
the future of, 276-293; con- 
sideration of, and of kindred 
movements, 294-330 ; danger 
of allowing to become gen- 



Index 



349 



eral, 314r-315; future of, de- 
pendent on its further ap- 
plication and influence, 326- 
327 

New Thought Forum, Boston, 
249 

New Thought Library and 
Reading Room, Boston, 249 

New Thought Temple, Cincin- 
nati, work of, 250-253 

Newton, R. Heber, speaker be- 
fore International Metaphy- 
sical League, 196; president 
of New Thought organiza- 
tion, J 99 

New York City, progress of 
New Thought in, 243-246 

New Zealand, New Thought 
work in, 270 

Norris, Mrs. C. E. C, New 
Thought leader in Boston, 
249 

Now, New Thought periodical 
of San Francisco, 239 

Optimism, element of, intro- 
duced in New Thought move- 
ment, 160-161 

Oregon, progress of the New 
Thought in, 240 

Oscawana, N. Y., New Thought 
meetings at, 177 

Pacific coast, New Thought 
movement on, 232-237 

Patterson, Charles Brodie. 
mental science adopted by 
140; use of term "New 
Thought" by, 153-154; pub- 
lisher of Mind, 185; presi- 
dent of International Meta- 
physical League, 196; men- 
tioned, 202; in England, 262 

Peace, identification of the 



New Thought with move- 
ment in behalf of, 310 

Pennock, E. A., paper on "A 
Physical Basis for Righteous- 
ness" by, 188 

Personified Unthinkables, book 
by Miss Grimke, 137 

Philadelphia, the New Thought 
movement in, 255 

Poore, Emma C, leader of 
Church and School of the 
New Civilization, 245 

Power, New Thought monthly 
of Denver, 238 

Poyen, Charles, mesmerism in- 
troduced into United States 
by, 29 

Practical Christianity, New 
Thought movement called, in 
Kansas City, 145, 155; name 
interchangeable with New 
Thought, 238-239; magazine 
Unity the organ of, 256 

Practical Ideals, New Thought 
magazine of Boston, 189 

Prather, Charles E., editor and 
publisher of Power, 238 

Procopeia, The, New Thought 
society in Boston, 179-180 

Psycho-analysis and the New 
Thought, 306-307 



Queensland, start of New 
Thought work in, 270 

Quimby, George A., quoted on 
personality of P. P. Quimby, 
23-24; on investigation of 
mesmerism by P. P. Quimby, 
29-31 ; account by, of his 
father's development of 
method and theory of spir- 
itual healing, 37-41; on his 
father's view of life as a 
whole, 42-43; The Philosophy 



350 



Index 



of P. P. Quimby quoted, 56- 
59 
Quimby, Phineas P., pioneer of 
New Thought movement, 19- 
20; early life and training, 
20-22; attitude toward the 
Church, 22; feeling of, to- 
ward books, 22-23; personal 
appearance and characteris- 
tics, 23-26; beginnings of ex- 
perience in healing, 26-29; 
investigation and practice of 
mesmerism by, 29-32; per- 
sonal account of his experi- 
ence, 32-35; career as a prac- 
titioner in Portland, 39-41; 
notable patients of, 41 ; sum- 
ming up of view held by, of 
life as a whole, 42-43; death 
of, 43; detailed account of 
method of healing of, 44-70; 
Mrs. Eddy cured by, 98-101; 
letters of Mrs. Eddy relating 
to, 102-108; Mrs. Eddy's 
change of attitude toward, 
112-114; emphasis placed on 
mental pictures by, 137-138 

Rawson, F. L., New Thought 
teacher in London, 264-265; 
pamphlet on How to Protect 
Our Soldiers by, quoted, 265- 
268 

Realization, significance of 
word, to followers of the 
New Thought, 162-163 

Reed, Frederick, New Thought 
leader, 177-178; secretary of 
Metaphysical Club, 182 

Reesberg, Eleanor M., pioneer 
lecturer and leader in Cali- 
fornia, 242 

Riley, Dr. Woodbridge, discus- 
sion of mental healing in 
book by, 295-296 



Roblin, Rev. Stephen H., vice- 
president of National New 
Thought Alliance, 202 

Rodman, Warren A., secretary 
of Metaphysical Club, 184; 
paper on "Business and the 
Higher Life" by, 188; secre- 
tary of International Meta- 
physical League, 196 

Sabin, Oliver C, pioneer in re- 
formed Christian Science, 194 

St. Louis, Second International 
New Thought Congress at 
(1916), 212-214; progress of 
New Thought movement in, 
253-254 

San Francisco, first convention 
of mental-healing movement 
held in, 192; First Interna- 
tional New Thought Congress 
in (1915), 208; original 
Home of Truth in, 233-237 

School of Applied Metaphysics, 
the, 178 

Science and Health, publication 
of (1875), 127; a certain 
value to be attributed to, 
127-128 

Seabury, Annetta G., patient of 
P. P. Quimby, 41 

Selfishness, the primary trouble 
in disease, 83 

Seton, Dr. Julia, interest 
aroused in New Thought in 
Australia by, 219; work of, 
as leader of New Thought 
movement, 245 

Sexual emotion, as a cause of 
disease, 83-84 

Sheldon, Edward, mental sci- 
ence pioneer, 137 

Shelton, T. J., editor of Scien- 
tific Christian, 231 

Simon, Leila, work of, as head 



Index 



351 



of New Thought Temple in 
Cincinnati, 250-253 

Smyth, Rev. Julian K., state- 
ment by, concerning Em- 
manuel movement, quoted, 
319-321 

Socialism, lack of common in- 
terest between the New 
Thought and, 308-309 

Society of Silent Unity, Kansas 
City, 256 

South America, New Thought 
movement in, 272-273 

Spiritualism and the New 
Thought, 302-303 

Sprague, Frank B., New 
Thought writer, 189 

Stoiber, May C, New Thought 
minister, 245 

Struve, Madame Florence, 
French New Thought leader, 
219 

Stuart, Elizabeth G., student 
of mental healing, 138, 139 

Swartz, A. J., editor of Mental 
Science Magazine, 137 

Swedenborg, indebtedness of 
W. F. Evans to teachings of, 
72, 75, 76, 79 ff., 93-95; dis- 
tinction between Mr. Evans's 
philosophy and that of, 94- 
96; question of relationship 
of, to the New Thought 
movement, 318-319 



Tafft, Henry S., officer of 
International Metaphysical 
League, 196 

Theology, part played by the 
New Thought in emancipat- 
ing people from the old, 312 

Theosophy, resemblances found 
between mental science and, 
136, 303-304 



Thought, mental healing maga- 
zine, 137 

Towne, Elizabeth, editor and 
author, 232; Nautilus edited 
by, 241; work of, in connec- 
tion with Nautilus, 255-256 

Trine, R. W., writer on New 
Thought subjects, 158; What 
All the World's A-seeking 
by, 172; at Greenacre Con- 
ferences, 178; mentioned, 
198; translations of works of, 
273 

Troward, Judge T., use of 
term "mental science" by, 
154; most widely read of 
English New Thought writ- 
ers, 263 

Trueman, Anita, 196 

Tyner, Paul, editor of The 
Arena, 189; mentioned, 196, 
250; leader of Edinburgh 
New Thought Centre, 264 

Unity, the representative mag- 
azine of Practical Christian- 
ity, 137, 241, 256 

Universalists, New Thought 
preached by, in Oregon, 240, 
242 

Universal New Thought Studio 
and Lecture Room, Los An- 
geles, 243 

Universal Truth, New Thought 
magazine of Chicago, 185 

University of Christ, Los An- 
geles, 234 

Upanishads, teachings resem- 
bling those of the New 
Thought in the, 274 

Uptegrove, W. E., treasurer of 
International Metaphysical 
League, 196 

Van-Anderson, Helen, influen- 



352 



Index 



tial New Thought writer, 
172; originator of Church of 
the Higher Life, Boston, 
174-176; begins similar work 
in other cities, 176; men- 
tioned, 194, 198, 200 
Vedanta philosophy, the New 
Thought and the, 274 

Wallace, Clara Haven, organ- 
izer of Metaphysical Guild 
of Boston, 249 

Ware, the Misses, patients of 
P. P. Quimby, 40-41 

Washington (state), progress 
of the New Thought in, 239- 
240 

Washington, D. C, New 
Thought movement in, 255 

Wayside Lights, mental sci- 
ence magazine, 137 

Wee Wisdom's Way, mental- 
healing magazine for chil- 
dren, 231 

Whipple, Leander E., pioneer 
mental healer, 138-139, 141; 
The Philosophy of Mental 
Healing by, 172 

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, a New 
Thought writer, 232 

Wilmans, Helen, employment 
of term "mental science" by, 
145; editor and author, 161, 
231 

Wilson, Grace, New Thought 
leader in Los Angeles, 243 



Winkley, Rev. J. W., mental- 
science leader, 134, 196, 199; 
one of organizers of Meta- 
physical Club, Boston, 180- 
182; Practical Ideals edited 
and published by, 189 

Woman suffrage, interest of 
New Thought leaders in, 309 

Women, prominence of part 
taken by, in the New Thought 
movement, 309 

Wood, Henry, theory of, of 
ideal suggestion through 
mental photography, 149, 
151; use of term "New 
Thought" by, 154; mentioned, 
157-158, 194, 196; writings 
of, as representative of more 
rational expression of the 
New Thought, 164-172; at 
Greenacre Conferences, 178; 
essays by, 188; Ideal Sug- 
gestion by, translated into 
Chinese, 274 

Worcester, Ellwood, leader in 
the Emmanuel movement, 
304 

Yarnell, Jane, speaker before 

International Metaphysical 

League, 196 
Y. M. C. A., collaboration of 

New Thought centres with, 

223 
Youtz, H. A., cyclopedia article 

on the New Thought by, 295 



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